Fate
by Bonami27
Summary: She left to protect him — and herself. Even after six years it still seemed like the best choice for everyone involved. But Korra should have known better; Fate has a funny way of making things work — no matter how hard one tries to change it. Okay so the fic is set about six years after book 4. Mako and Asami are aged 28, Korra 27 and Bolin is 26. Make sure to review! :)
1. Chapter 1

**Fate**

She left to protect him — and herself. Even after six years it still seemed like the best choice for everyone involved. But Korra should have known better; Fate has a funny way of making things work — no matter how hard one tries to change it.

Fate is inspired by and based upon a story by another writer whose story I read three to four years ago now; While the original story is written using different characters and settings as to Fate, a lot of the inspiration was taken and ultimately resulted in the writing of this story. A big thanks to Sam who, in her own way, is responsible for the production of Fate.

Fate is set about six years after Book 4. Mako and Asami are aged 28, Korra 27 and Bolin is 26. I'm doing this after the three year time skip in book 4 and adding on another six years, hopefully that makes sense. Read and and let me know what you think!

* * *

Chapter One

_Mako stared at the pieces of paper in front of him in sheer disbelief. There was no way, no way in hell that he could be reading this correctly. There had to be something wrong with his eyes, there just had to be. _

_"__Something wrong Chief?" One of his supporting officers piped up, having noticed Mako's bewildered state. Mako shook his head slowly, still staring at the pieces of paper, trying to process the inked in words written on them._

_"__As of today Avatar Korra will be stepping down from her position on the Council of Republic City, taking up leave of absence until further notice. Her destination is, as of yet, unconfirmed," he murmured out loud, as if that would help him figure out the situation somehow. "No… She can't be gone…"_

_Mako was oblivious to the concerned looks of his subordinates who were just as dumbfounded at the situation as he was. What in the world could have upset the Chief of Police _this_ much?_

* * *

"Sir? Sir…wake up, you have a meeting to attend. Come on Chief…"

Mako's head snapped up, as a gentle hand roused him from his slumber. "What…?" he muttered, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and raising his head to look into the eyes of Lin Beifong whom, since her premature retirement as Chief of Police, had taken up a position on the Republic City Council. "Oh, sorry Beifong."

He grabbed the meeting brief that had, at some point during his nap, been placed on top of the never-ending stack of paperwork domineering his desk, pulling it closer to him and opening it. Beifong's lips quirked into an understanding smile as she turned away from the exhausted Chief, making her way to the Council meeting room, to prepare for the meeting later that day. She could tell, by the dark circles that stood out in stark contrast to Mako's pale skin, that Mako hadn't slept the night before. That wasn't a surprise though. There were many nights he didn't sleep, and many more when he drank. But that was another story entirely.

By the time noon rolled around, Mako had managed to get through about half the pile of the mountain of paperwork that currently dominated his desk; Quite an impressive feat for someone who was never particularly good with reading or writing.

Two of his subordinates left the office, muttering something about heading out to grab something to eat. Mako didn't bother joining them; he wasn't hungry. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Lin Beifong re-entering the office.

"You should go and eat, Chief." Beifong suggested, noticing that Mako was looking not just exhausted but rather gaunt as well.

"I'll go in a few, I just want to finish reading through this report." Mako raised his eyes to meet with those of Lin Beifong's, whose gaze had turned rather scrutinizing. "Is something wrong, Beifong?"

"No, Chief," Lin snapped, realizing she'd been glaring at Mako. "It's nothing." Nothing she was comfortable on revealing to Mako at any rate.

* * *

_Asami Sato was _not_ a happy person. Not that Mako really blamed her. He supposed _he_ wouldn't have been very happy either if a crazy person had suddenly stormed into _his_ factory and started shouting at _him_ as he demanded answers. "I'm sorry, Chief," Asami growled, putting a heavy, sarcastic emphasis on the last word, "I didn't quite catch that. Do you want to repeat what you just said _without _yelling at me?"_

_Mako swallowed a few times, as if to swallow his anger. When he realized he probably wasn't going to be able to speak, he held out the letter he'd received earlier that morning in regards to Korra's leave of absence. Asami didn't take it; no doubt she already knew what it was. "So that finally found it's way to your desk?" she asked, her voice flat, portraying no emotion. "Well, what do you want from me?"_

_"__A location." Mako's words received a blank stare. "I went to Air Temple Island but neither Tenzin nor Pema would tell me anything. Asami, where is she?"_

_Asami sighed heavily, shaking her head. "I don't know Mako, but even if I did I wouldn't tell you. If Korra wanted you to know where she is or where she plans to go she would have told you herself. She obviously has a good reason not to." If ever there was an answer Mako wasn't expecting, it would have been the one he was just given._

_"__What?" Asami turned away from him, closing her eyes. "Why wouldn't she want me to know?"_

_"__I can't say," Asami muttered, looking a bit resentful as she started to turn away to return to work on the latest Sato mobile. Mako narrowed his eyes, noting that Asami was avoiding going into detail on the subject. Mako wasn't one to normally flaunt his title and use it to his advantage but he was desperate and wanted answers. So he figured he'd make an exception._

_"__Asami Sato, I order you to tell me where Avatar Korra is and the reason behind her leaving Republic City."_

_To his surprise, Asami laughed humourlessly. "Chief Mako, no offense but a promise to my best friend means a damn lot more than any order from you. So short of having me arrested, you're not getting any answers from me. Sorry."_

_She picked up a wrench when she heard him mutter, "Was it me?" Mako asked out of sheer desperation. He had to know. Was it something _he_ had done? Had _he _been the one to drive Korra out of the city?_

_Asami stopped, looking halfway over her shoulder. "Kind of," she admitted. "It's sort of you…but mostly her. Don't think on it too much."_

_As if that was possible._

* * *

_Wham!_

Mako, as lost in thought as he'd been as he'd dragged himself from the office and out to find something to eat, didn't see where he was going before it was too late and he'd walked into someone carrying several large boxes that were obstructing their view.

"Oof!"

_Crash!_

"Oh damn it…" Asami Sato moaned as she stared at the mess of nuts and bolts that were spilling out from the boxes that had just tumbled to the floor. "A pleasure as always, Chief Mako."

"Asami." Mako sighed as he knelt down to pick up the nuts and bolts. After a moment Asami joined him on the floor. "Sorry about that, wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"Clearly." Asami snorted, not taken by Mako's less than heartfelt apology.

_Well, like the old saying goes, speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear. _Mako shook his head as he dropped a handful of bolts into on of the open boxes. "Where are you going with all of this anyway?"

"The latest Sato mobile has really taken off, problem is demand is greater than what Future Industries is capable of supplying right now. It looks like I'm going to be out until midnight making my way from one factory to the other, dropping off supplies and checking shipping schedules. I'll probably be occupied with this again tomorrow, despite it being my day off. Heck, sometimes even the boss needs some time to chill, you know?" Asami explained, as she struggled with the weight of one of the boxes.

"Must keep you on your toes. Do you want some help carrying this stuff to the factory?" Mako regretted saying the words as soon as they were out of this mouth. Damn him and his gentlemanly ways. Knowing Asami, she'd probably take that as him trying to imply that she was just a weak woman who wasn't even capable of carrying a few boxes, but of course that was far from the truth.

"No thanks, I won't keep you from your lunch." Mako was surprised when that was all she said on the subject. She must have been really upset about losing that day off.

Mako rocked back on his heels as they collected the rest of the nuts and bolts in silence. After a moment he stood, holding out a hand for Asami as well. Asami took his hand, allowing him to pull her up from where she'd been sitting on the floor. "So…" Mako started to say, trying to figure out how best to word the question weighing heavily on his mind.

"Korra's doing fine." Mako blinked. What the hell, was Asami now a mind reader too? Asami laughed dryly at the look on his face. "You're very predictable Chief. Every time you want to ask about Korra you get this really far off look on your face and start off saying 'so…' like you're trying to be casual."

Mako scowled. He hated being predictable. "So she's doing…alright?" He asked, noting with a tinge of annoyance that he'd started that sentence with 'so' as well. He was going to have to try and break that habit. Asami nodded slowly. "What's she up to now, I mean, seeing as she's not on the Council anymore…"

He really was just curious. But the way Asami smiled at him told him that she thought he was trying to pry answers out of _her_. Not that he didn't do that whenever he got the chance. But really, the fact that she accusing him of such a thing _now_ was rather insulting. "I have to get this stuff down to the factory," she said as she piled the boxes on top of one another, picking up the bottom most one. "Chief." Her voice was muffled as she clumsily rearranged the boxes to salute Mako.

"Asami." Mako sighed as he nodded at her, and watched her walk away. He hated how _she_ was his only connection to Korra. It just wasn't fair.

* * *

"Ugh." Asami huffed as she dropped the boxes upon entering her factory. She made her way over to the phone located in her factory office. Taking it off the receiver, she dialled a number and waited for a response from the other end of the line.

The phone rang three times before somebody answered. _"Hello-"_

"Hey Bolin, it's Asami." The woman rushed out hurriedly, not wanting to give Bolin any chance to ramble. There was a pause.

_"__Hey Korra, it's Asami!" _Bolin shouted down the receiver of the phone, causing Asami to grimace while she waited for a response.

Bolin laughed at something happening on his end of the line and replied a short while later, _"Korra's busy at the moment, can I take a message?"_

Asami sighed wearily, "Just let her know I won't be able to make it tomorrow. The factory is swamped with orders and I'm needed here in case anything goes awry." Bolin whistled, clearly amused by Asami's stressful situation.

_"__Sucks to be you. I got to tell you, I really don't miss that part of being in the city, never a moment to just chill. Though I got to admit, I do miss listening to you and Korra yelling at Mako for not doing his paperwork, he always did put it off…"_

"I saw him today." Asami mumbled as Bolin's voice drifted off, his mind taking him away to happier times.

_"__Mako?"_

"No, Santa Claus." Asami rolled her eyes.

_"__Great, tell him for Christmas I want a Team Avatar reunion."_

"Bolin…"

_"__Sorry."_ Asami could tell that Bolin was grinning. _"So how's my bro holding up? I haven't seen him since…"_

Bolin didn't need to finish that sentence. Asami already knew. "He's okay…I guess. Misses Korra like you wouldn't believe. He asks me about her every time we run into each other, which thankfully isn't that often. Sometimes I think he corners me on purpose _just_ so he can ask me about her. He looked tired today, which is better than the alternative, I suppose. From what Beifong has told me he gets drunk a lot, comes hung-over in the morning. He's really changed Bo."

_"__He's a bitch to deal with when he's hung-over."_ Bolin muttered. _"Right after Korra had left he went on this huge one night drinking binge. From what I've heard, not even Beifong bothered to try dealing with him when he made it into work the next morning. He probably would have snapped her head off if she had, of course, she would have just whipped him or something but that's not exactly the point…"_

_"_You know I almost feel sorry for him, sure we've had our ups and downs but I'd never wish him any harm. I mean, he's lost pretty much everyone he's ever cared for or loved. That can't be easy."

_"__Yeah, I guess I'm partly to blame."_

They both sighed, losing themselves in thought for a moment. "So ugh, is Korra still busy?" Asami asked suddenly. It usually didn't take this long for her to come to the phone.

_"__Oh, she's not actually here. I just pretended to yell at her earlier cause I knew it would annoy you."_

"Bolin! I swear…" they both laughed. Asami decided to end their conversation when she noted a couple of factory workers coming back from their break. "Anyway Bo I need to get going but make sure to pass on my message, I'll come by as soon as things have settled down here." She hung up the phone and headed over to the Sato mobile she'd been working on earlier in the day, Bolin's amused laugh still ringing in her ears.

* * *

By the time the lunch hour had ended, Mako still hadn't succeeded in grabbing anything to eat. He'd spent most of the time just wandering the streets aimlessly, thinking about his earlier conversation with the Sato heiress. He half-considered making his way to the Future Industries factory on the other side of town to check on the progress of the Sato mobile shipments but he knew that Asami would have it all under control and that his concern really wasn't needed.

He returned to his office, Beifong and a couple of other council members, including Tenzin were already there, waiting for him so they could begin the afternoon meeting. They made their way to the meeting room, passing pleasantries amongst one another. When they arrived they each took their seats, Mako staring at Beifong for a minute. It was so_ wrong_, seeing her sitting there in what _was_ Korra's seat.

_Mako stared at the paper in front of him in disbelief. After a moment he raised his eyes to look at the woman who was standing before him, a woman who he'd come to know quite well over the years. Lin Beifong stared him down, waiting for his response._

_It took a few minutes for Mako to process the information and gain composure. "Very well then Beifong, if that is what the Council has decided would be best then I must comply."_

_Tarloq and Tenzin exchanged looks, both deciding it best not to comment. They knew that delivering the news of Korra's place on the council being replaced, by none other than Lin Beifong wouldn't be easy, but were surprised just how 'well' Mako had handled it._

_Beifong turned away from Mako, who glared at her back as she exited the room. Mako, in his anger, had to keep reminding himself that it wasn't Beifong's fault Korra had taken off and that, essentially, Beifong was simply a stand in until Korra returned. _If_ she returned._

Mako was glad when five o'clock rolled around, as it signalled the end of the days meeting. He really just wanted to go home. He had a bottle of Vodka waiting at home and it had his name on it.

* * *

Korra sighed as she closed the bedroom door, backing away and turning to find Bolin standing in her hallway, leaning up against the wall. "What are you doing here?" she mumbled, walking past him as she started to make her way towards the living room. Bolin followed her silently.

"I have a message for you. By the time I finished up at the store it was too late to call so I figured I'd just come by to deliver it in person." Korra nodded wordlessly as she took a seat on the couch. Bolin gave a small smile and sat in the armchair opposite Korra. "Anyway, Asami called earlier, she said something about her being swamped with work back in Republic City, apparently her latest Sato mobile has been a real hit. She just said to let you know what with everything going on that she won't be able to make it tomorrow."

"She must be loving that."

"Not half as much as Mako's going to love it when he's swamped with reports of people speeding down the streets of Republic City in their new Sato Mobile." Bolin grinned, hoping to illicit _some_ form of a smile from Korra. No such luck. If anything, her already formed frown deepened at the mention of Mako's name. "Remember the time that Asami was in charge of designing new Airships for the Earth Kingdom and she was so in over her head that she asked us to help out with the shipping schedules, we were working until, what? 3AM?"

"If my memory serves me correctly, you and Pabu ran a muck in the factory, causing such a mess that it took almost an hour to tidy up and get things back on track." Korra pointed out dryly.

"Hey, don't just blame Pabu. Naga was in on it too you know." Bolin said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh please." The sarcasm in Korra's tone was not lost. "So is that all you came down here for? You know, you could have told me this tomorrow morning."

Bolin sighed. He was pretty transparent when it came to Korra; she could always tell when he had an ulterior motive. "Honestly, I just wanted to come by and see how things were going. So I figured I'd walk that little bit further and check in on you and my favourite, well my only, Godson. How's he doing anyway?"

"Well, I _finally_ got his fever to break." Korra sighed wearily as she leaned her head back against the couch, closing her eyes to block out the bright living room light. "I was up with him all last night, he kept coughing and he just couldn't sleep…"

"You should've called me Kor," Bolin said with a frown as Korra's voice drifted off. "I would've come by and stayed with so you could get some sleep."

"He was being clingy last night, so I doubt he would've stayed with you. Besides, it was late."

"And you hate asking for help." Bolin stated, shaking his head. "Do you want me to stay tonight? You look like you could use a good nights sleep."

"I'll be fine." Korra refused, of course. Bolin raised his eyebrows, taking note of her paler-than-usual skin and the dark circles that had been many a sleepless night in forming under Korra's otherwise stunning turquoise eyes.

"Oh come on Kor, there's no shame in admitting when you need someone to lean on." No answer. Bolin sat up slightly, getting a better look at Korra. Her face was insanely serene and peaceful, her breathing deep and even. She'd fallen asleep. Bolin he wanted to move her to her bed so she was more comfortable he just wasn't able, after a slight kerfuffle a few years back when battling against mad woman Kuvira and her personal army in Zao Fu, Bolin had been left a little worse for wear and to this day he felt the effects of it in his bones. So instead he stood, moving Korra so she was in more of a laying position (She _must_ have been tired if that didn't wake her, she was usually such a light sleeper). He ventured into her bedroom down the hall where he grabbed a blanket and pillow from her bed, bringing them back to the living room. He slid the pillow under her head and placed the blanket over her, smiling slightly when she stirred in her sleep, muttering something under her breath.

_Mako should be here_, he reflected dryly as he switched off the living room light and made his way out of the house, locking the door behind him. _Mako should have stayed up with her and Koda last night, Mako should be carrying her to bed because she fell asleep on the couch. This should all be Mako._

Bolin had never really agreed with the choices that Korra had made, but he wasn't one to question them either.

* * *

_Bolin stared at Asami in disbelief, trying to process what the raven-haired woman had just told him. "Are we talking about… the same Korra here?"_

_Asami's response was to slap him on the back of the head. "Come on Bolin, this is serious. Korra's in a hard place right now and she needs our help. She handed in a letter to the council notifying them of her wish to take a leave of absence, it'll reach Mako by the end of the week. She wants to be out of Republic City and as far away from Police Headquarters as possible by then. But you know Korra, she refuses to ask anyone for help and thinks she can handle this on her own. But I know otherwise, so this is me, coming to you and begging you to help the girl who you always say is like a sister to you. Please Bolin. Help her."_

_Bolin sighed, as if Asami need ask. "She can stay with my family in Ba Sing Se until we find her a place of her own. I'm sure they'd love to entertain the Avatar for a little while." It was quite a fall from grace, although it wasn't the first time people had disapproved of Avatar Korra's actions and decisions._

_"__I'll let her know." Asami smiled weakly. "She's going to kill me for going to you."_

_"__We'll deal with her later." Bolin assured Asami despite the fact that he was still in shock. Two words kept playing in his mind over and over._

_Korra. Pregnant._

_"__Just answer me something, is Mako the father?"_

_Asami bit her lip. "She won't tell me," she admitted after quite some time. "But come on, unless she was raped, who else would it be?" Bolin's eyes widened, he hadn't even thought of that…"She wasn't raped. Mako's the father. Trust me."_

Bolin made his way down the street and to his own home, frowning. There were times, plenty of times that he had thought about calling Mako and telling him everything. But he really had no proof that _Korra's_ son was _Mako's_ son. The child was the splitting image of his mother. But if Bolin had to point anything out it was that Koda's skin was somewhat lighter than Korra's, but that didn't mean much. And anyway, Korra would hate him for life if he outed her secret. And Mako wouldn't go well hearing from his estranged brother that the Avatar had been pregnant with _his _child and had run away, hiding it for six years.

Either way Bolin would lose out. Korra would kill him, or Mako would.

He'd rather just let fate play out. If Mako was meant to find out, he would, if not, then he wouldn't. But boy oh boy did Bolin hope he would.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Kai was grinning widely as he made his way through the middle ring of Ba Sing Se to the lower ring. He figured he'd explore as much of the city as he could before reaching the lower ring, though since the Earth Kingdom's near destruction almost a decade ago the city didn't really follow the 'ring' system anymore. The people of Ba Sing Se were just trying to rebuild their city to the best of their abilities with whatever resources they could get their hands on.

It was great being back in Ba Sing Se, after having spent the last few years of his life travelling with the other nomads, visiting all of the remaining Air Temples. Of course, Kai couldn't say he'd minded, being able to spend more one on one time with Jinora had been great and despite having been gone for only a short while, he couldn't wait to get back.

"Hiya!" Kai was startled and looked around to find the source of the voice that he figured was coming from around knee level. He found himself gazing down into a pair of stunningly familiar turquoise eyes. Accompanying the pair of eyes was a tiny, grinning chocolate-haired boy.

"Hello…" Kai said slowly, a bit bewildered by the child's brash behavior. He was grinning so there was no way he was lost, so, what did he want?

"You're new in town, right? Are you a traveller?"

"Yeah, I'm just passing through."

"Well, you should come to our store before you leave," the boy piped, pointing to a tiny market store behind him. Kai stared at him for a minute, then laughed. Advertising. Well the boy was good, at least. Kai poked around in his pocket, pulling out a few coins. He _could_ use a bottle of water…

"Uncle Bolin, I did it, I got a customer!" The boy called as he ran back into the store, Kai following suit. After a moment, a well-built man came out from the back of the store carrying a few boxes in his arms. Kai's jaw dropped open.

"Bolin?!"

Bolin's jaw dropped open upon seeing Kai, though Bolin noted mentally that he had grown quite a lot since he'd last seen him. "Kai. Well, well it's been a while, hasn't it?"

He came out from behind the counter, extending his hand out to Kai, who grinned that goofy grin of his as they shook hands. "Uncle Bolin, do you know him?" The boy asked, pulling on his pant leg.

"He's an old friend of your mother and myself," Bolin smiled, patting the boys' head. "Why don't you go play out the back of the store? Your mum should be back soon with lunch."

"Kay." And with that, the boy bolted out to the back of the store. Bolin laughed as he watched the door swing shut.

"You'd never know that just yesterday he was laying in bed with a fever." Bolin laughed as he shook his head, turning back to Kai who stared after the boy in awe.

"He…is he…?" The whole concept that Avatar Korra could have a child escaped Kai. He couldn't even bring himself to ask the question. Bolin smiled sadly, realizing what Kai was struggling to ask.

"Is it that obvious?"

"It's the eyes," Kai finally managed to say. "His eyes…They're _exactly_ the same as Avatar Korra's."

"It's just Korra now. She dropped the formalities, not that she was ever much of a fan of them anyway, when she found out she was pregnant. I suppose you know that's when she left Republic City and the Council." Kai shook his head, trying to make sense of what he was being told. It just didn't seem possible.

* * *

_"Easy there, Korra."_

_Jinora and Kai looked over their shoulders in unison, looking back at the Avatar, Airbenders and Acolytes who were following behind them. The Avatar, Korra, it seemed, had collapsed. She was currently on her knees, pulling in a few deep, sharp breathes. Councilman Tenzin was standing over her, a reassuring hand on the Avatar's shoulder. The Chief of Police, Mako, was kneeling on the ground next to her, a worried look upon his face._

_"Are you okay?" Mako was saying, his voice laced with worry. He looped one arm around her waist, helping her to stand and gain her balance. She leaned against his chest heavily, her eyes clamped shut._

_"I'm fine, Chief," she mumbled, as she pulled away from him. Mako stopped her mid movement, tightening his grip on her waist. "Really, Mako, I'm fine-"_

_"I'm not the one who can't _stand_, Korra. Just let me help you." Mako effectively cut her off._

_Jinora and Kai exchanged a knowing look. Avatar Korra was a _really_ stubborn woman…_

"Is it…I mean, is he Chief Mako's son?" Kai asked after a moment. Bolin's lips quirked into a smirk.

"Well, she won't actually come out and tell us, and he looks exactly like her so no help there. But his skin _is_ similar to Mako's…"

"You mean…does_ he_ know?"

Bolin shrugged. "Korra left Republic City and the Council, not exactly something anyone, let alone the Avatar, could do lightly. If Mako ever found out _why _she did, I'm sure I would have heard. He doesn't even know where she is anymore. Upon leaving, she came here to Ba Sing Se, and she hasn't left since."

Kai scowled. "She's raising him by herself?"

"Mostly. I help out as much as I can, but it's _Korra_, she hates asking for help and she rarely accepts it when I offer, unless she's at her wits end. But you know what she's like." Kai nodded slowly. "She's a surprisingly good mother though. Not the type you'd peg for motherhood, but she does it. Her and Koda are really close. He got his stubbornness and bashfulness from her and he's very overprotective, a little like _someone else_ I know. It's really pretty cute actually, whenever he thinks someone is treating her badly he'll jump in front of her like he's trying to protect her and of course she's there trying to pull him back so he doesn't get into trouble…" Bolin chuckled. "They're really quite the pair."

Kai could only imagine.

_Boom!_

A loud shriek echoed from the back room as an explosion rented the air, followed by the ground shaking, Koda running out front, and instantly cowering behind his 'uncle' Bolin. "What the _hell _was that?" Bolin asked, snapping his head around. It was a sign of how scared Koda was that he didn't scold Bolin for his use of language.

Kai ran out front, his green eyes whipping back and forth along the street, eventually landing on a point in the sky. He could see a cloud of smoke in the distance, rising up into the blue sky. "I think something blew up," he said, pointing in the direction of the smoke. Bolin directed his gaze in the direction that Kai was pointing, his eye widening.

"Oh no…"

Koda was thinking along the same lines as Bolin. "Is mum okay?" he whimpered, peaking around from behind Bolin, his turquoise eyes brimming with tears. Something pulled tight in Bolin's stomach.

"I'll go look for her." Kai was already half way down the street before he'd finished his sentence.

"Kai, wait-!"

Too late. He was already gone.

* * *

"Avatar Korra!"

Well _there_ was a name Korra hadn't heard in a while. She turned around, surprised to find the one who'd called her name. Kai was running towards her, looking immensely relieved to see that she was okay. Naga, who'd been standing by Korra's side, barked happily when she saw Kai and ran forward, trying to pin him down.

"Kai, what're you-"

"Looking for you," Kai answered her unfinished question as he skidded to a halt in front of her. Naga barked again, running around Kai, tackling his legs. "Bolin and Koda were worried, I told them I'd look for you." Korra's eyes widened at Kai's easily spoken reference to her son.

"Kai. What are you doing here?"

"I'm just passing through, on a break from Air Bending training. Never mind that though, are you all right? You're not hurt are you?"

Korra shook her head. Albeit she was a little shaken, the explosion had happened a little too close to comfort. The street around her was littered with debris and shattered glass from blown out shop front windows. She was beginning to wish she'd left Naga with Bolin, or at home. Anywhere but here. It was going to be a pain getting back to the store with all the shattered glass lying about.

"Do you know what happened?" Kai asked as he looked around. His eyes met with a large hole that had once been three separate stores; the explosion had certainly changed that.

"No, I don't." She did know one thing though; the three stores that had been destroyed in the explosion had been two clothing stores and a florist. No kind of machinery in any of those stores could have been responsible for causing an explosion like _this_.

Korra jumped as the sound of approaching cars reached her ears. The only people allowed through to the explosion site would be firefighters, ambulances…And the Police.

"Damn it," Korra hissed under her breath, shifting to hide behind a corner, dragging Naga with her, as a long line of Police cars drove down the street. It would be just her luck if the one person she did _not_ want to see, was in one of those cars. He was the Head of Police so it was highly likely that he was.

Kai looked over his shoulder at the chocolate-haired woman, raising an eyebrow when his eyes landed on her. "Avatar-?"

Naga barked suddenly, and Korra grabbed at her reigns before she could run towards the people that were now pouring out of the Police cars. She tried very hard to ignore all the familiar faces, instead mentally retracing the quickest, and least glass-filled, route back to the store. From where she was at the moment she could probably cut through a nearby alley, and come out on a street that was only one away from the store. It would certainly be easier than trying to maneuver around the Police Force with a not so inconspicuous Polar Bear dog.

"Are you okay, Avatar Korra?" Kai asked suddenly, pulling Korra from her thoughts. "You looked like you were thinking hard about something, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Kai. And you don't have to call me Avatar anymore. It's just Korra now." Korra looked down the street, there were plenty of people she could blend in with, even with Naga she'd make it to the alleyway without being seen. "Sorry about this Naga…" she mumbled as she pulled on her reigns, carefully leading her forward. She really needed to get back, she didn't doubt what Kai had said about Bolin and Koda being worried…

"Are you going back to the store?" Kai asked as Korra stared forward. She nodded silently, not really paying Kai any attention anymore. She just wanted to get away from all of this. "I'll come with you."

Korra looked at Kai in surprise. It mad sense though, he probably wouldn't be getting out of town any time soon after all.

It was a relief to get away from all the Police Personnel. Korra's heart had almost stopped when Lin Beifong's eyes had momentarily landed on her' she ducked behind a street vendors stall, hiding herself and Naga from view until Beifong had looked away again. Korra knew, through Asami, that Beifong had taken Korra's place on the Republic City Council. The last thing Korra needed now was someone on the Council seeing her in Ba Sing Se.

_"Mum!"_ Koda all but threw himself at his mother as she walked into the store. He wrapped his arms around her waist, holding onto her tightly and burying his face into her pant leg. Bolin looked almost as relieved as Koda must have felt.

"Thanks Kai." Bolin thanked him.

"No problem." Kai smiled as he saw, out of the corner of his eye, Korra kneel down in front of Koda, resting her hands on his small shoulders, and began reassuring him with a soft voice. Naga was wagging her her tail happily.

"So what happened?" Bolin asked, bringing Kai's attention away from the touching scene between mother and child he'd been so captivated with.

"I couldn't really tell," Kai admitted. "I mean, it _was_ an explosion, obviously, but it might have been an accident-"

"A flower shop and two clothing stores were blown up," Korra interrupted as she stood again, Koda wrapped in her arms, burying his face in her neck and sniffling a bit. "Nothing in any of those stores could have caused an explosion of _that_magnitude."

"Unless Mr. Varrick was experimenting with those exploding guard flowers again." Bolin's lips quirked into a grin at the mention of the kooky, old shop owner. Korra didn't smile. "It sounds like a set-up."

"Terrorists?" Kai asked, looking between Bolin and Korra. They exchanged looks, nodding slowly. It _did_ seem like the most plausible explanation…

"Well, might as well close up shop for today. We're definitely not going to get any more business. Kai, you'll probably be stuck in town until the police finish their investigation; they're not likely to let anyone leave town if there's a possible bomber on the loose. I have a spare room that you're welcome to use, if you'd like."

Kai smiled weakly, he'd already guessed that he'd be unable to leave town for the duration of the investigation. "That'd be great Bolin. Thanks a lot."

"Of course." The man redirected his gaze to Korra. "They're probably going to come around soon to question people, we might as well hang around until they get to us. If they stumble upon an empty store, they'll get suspicious."

Korra sighed, glancing down at Koda. She _really_ just wanted to go home; the idea of facing someone from the Republic City Police was _not_ on her list of things she wanted to do. But Bolin was right. One way or another, they were going to question_everybody_, eventually. She figured she might as well get it over with now.

"Hey, do you have a phone I could use?" Kai asked suddenly. "I just want to call Tenzin and Pema, let them know I'll be a little later than I planned…and to see if Jinora is there."

"There's a phone outback," Korra said, bending over to set Koda down. "Koda, why don't you show where it is?"

"Okay." Koda turned to Kai, smiling. "Follow me."

And with that he bolted behind the counter, Kai following suit. Korra and Bolin exchanged another look.

"Is Mako here?"

Korra nodded slowly, rubbing her eyes. "They sent his team, and I saw Asami, extra protection or something. And then of course there was the whole detective unit…standard for an investigation."

Bolin frowned. With a bunch of police personnel running around town, one of whom was desperate to find out why she'd left in the first place, it was going to be really hard for Korra to do anything or go anywhere. It made Bolin nervous.

He could only _imagine_ how Korra felt.

* * *

Asami looked nervous. It was the first thing Mako noticed as they made their way down the streets of the small section of town. She kept shifting her eyes a lot, as if expecting to see something, or _someone_, that she didn't want to see. And she was biting her lip. A lot.

"Is something wrong, Asami?" Asami jumped as Mako called her back to attention.

"No, Chief," she mumbled, looking him straight in the eye. She was a very accomplished liar.

They were currently questioning the townspeople who had been around at the time of the explosion. It was a pain, really. Mako had split his team up, sending them down different streets in order to talk to store workers while the investigative team dealt with the blast site. So far, there were eight people confirmed dead and a handful of others with varying degrees of injuries.

Mako sighed as he and Asami stepped into a clothing store. There were two women standing at the cash register.

Asami bit her lip as she watched Mako speaking with the women. They were only a couple of shops down from where she knew Bolin, and most likely Korra, were working. Would she be able to get away with hiding out back? Bolin would cover for her, of course, but what about Naga and Koda? Keeping the two of them from making any noise wasn't so easy.

To say Mako was surprised when he and Asami stepped into the convenient store, to see Bolin standing behind the counter was nothing compared to the surprise he felt seeing another brown haired man sitting on the counter.

"Kai…? Bolin?"

Kai grinned as he leapt off the counter, giving Mako a quick salute. "Hey Chief, it's been a while."

Almost seven years. That _was_ awhile. "What are you doing here in Ba Sing Se?" He'd fully expected the kid to be at one of the Air Temples with the Air benders and Acolytes.

"I was just passing through." Kai shrugged. "I stopped in here to get something to drink, started catching up with Bolin, and well…now I think I'm stuck here."

"Unfortunately for the duration of the investigation, you probably will be." Mako regretted having to tell him that. No doubt he just wanted to be with Jinora again. "You were here when the explosion occurred, then?"

Kai nodded. "We were just hanging around talking," Bolin spoke up. "When next thing we hear is _kaboom_, and the whole store is shaking."

"That seems to be the standard answer." Mako muttered, a bit annoyed. Of course, anybody who knew something about this probably wasn't so keen on coming forward with the information, but still…

"Well, we'll let you get back to what you're doing then…"

As Mako turned to leave the store, a loud bark caught his attention, turning around just in time to see a _very_ familiar white Polar Bear dog run out from the back of the store. Moments later a tiny chocolate blur followed behind the giant dog, "Naga,_no_! Bad girl-"

Asami grabbed Naga's collar moments before she would have barreled into Mako; catching the raven-haired woman exchanging a look with Bolin right as the boy, who had been chasing Naga came to a halt next to the dog, tilting his head up to look at the adults around him. Something jarred in Mako's chest as he got a good look into the boy's bright, extremely familiar, turquoise eyes.

Mako stared at the boy for an eternity before redirecting his gaze to the door that the boy and Naga had bolted through. After a moment the door swung open, and one more person walked out, her eyes only meeting the floor, her face twisted into an unreadable expression. Mako felt as if someone had electrocuted him with an Equalist glove.

_"Korra?"_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

It had been pure luck that Korra had wandered out back mere _seconds_ before Mako and Asami had entered the store. Koda had gone into the back room with Naga, but they were being too quiet for Korra's liking. It turned out they'd fallen asleep; Koda curled into the crevice between Naga's front and hind legs. She'd just been about to make her way out front when the bell attached to the door rang, signaling that someone had entered the store. A second later a heat-wrenchingly familiar voice spoke.

_"Kai…? Bolin?"_

Korra bit her lip, squeezing her eyes shut. Damn, it would be _him_ who came in to enquire about the explosion. She knew Bolin would cover for her though. She figured that she'd just hide out here until Mako left, and it'd be all right…

_"Hello Chief. It's been a while."_

_"What are you doing here in Ba Sing Se?"_

_"I was just passing through, I stopped in here to get something to drink, started catching up with Bolin, and well…now I think I'm stuck here."_

_"Unfortunately for the duration of the investigation, you probably will be, you were here when the explosion occurred, then?"_

_"We were just hanging around talking,"_ Korra heard Bolin say. "_When next thing we hear is 'kaboom', and the whole store is shaking."_

_"That seems to be the standard answer."_ Mako sounded annoyed. Clearly they weren't getting far with their investigation.

_"Well, we'll let you get back to what you're doing then…"_

Korra's heart leapt into her mouth. He was leaving. The thought both thrilled and thoroughly depressed her. Her mind had been flirting with her heart the entire time just with the _idea_ of seeing Mako. On the one hand…she couldn't. On the other hand, _Spirits_ did she want to.

She had never felt so conflicted.

But now he was leaving. There was no room for argument. Korra would have to be cautious during the length of the investigation, but eventually the police force would clear out, and things would go back to normal, whatever that was. No problems.

In theory, anyway.

Naga barked suddenly, shocking Korra; she hadn't realised that Naga was awake. Before Korra could react or even begin to stop her, Naga had bolted past her, head-butting the swinging door that led out front and running out. Korra was practically rooted to where she sat as Koda, who had been rudely awoken but Naga's sudden departure, ran out after her yelling, "Naga, _no_! Bad girl-"

_Damn it, damn it, damn it!_

To say that Korra was freaking out would have been an understatement. Mako was going to get a good look at Koda, he was going to see the boys _eyes_: eyes that were the _exact_ same as hers.

Not that Korra hadn't expected this day to come, but she never expected it to be like this. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that she couldn't hide herself and Koda forever, but spirits she didn't want…

She kept her eyes on the floor as she pushed open the door, stepping out into the front of the store.

Silence.

_"Korra?"_

The sound of _her_ name in _his_ voice (after having him to refer to her as 'Avatar' for so long) was enough on it's own to break her. Her hands balled into tight fists, nails digging into her skin. She refused to look up. Refused to face him.

Asami, Bolin and Kai looked between Mako and Korra, waiting, though for _what_, they weren't sure. Yelling? It seemed like the most logical route, considering the situation. He'd be furious with the Avatar, of course, for the way she'd left, for not even saying goodbye. And what about Koda? Mako must have known the boy was _his_…

"Koda." The boy in question looked over his shoulder at his mother, eyebrows furrowing. She looked upset, though what she could possibly be upset over Koda couldn't begin to understand. "Take Naga and go out back."

Koda made a face, clearly puzzled at what his mother was asking him. "Why?" He demanded. He hated it when his mother tried to send him away without explaining anything.

"Just listen to her Koda," Asami said suddenly, redirecting the boys' attention to her. Koda scowled as he took Naga's reigns between both his tiny hands.

"But Aunt Asami…"

"Come one bud," Bolin interrupted, resting a hand on Koda's shoulder. Koda looked very distressed as he dragged Naga out into the back room. Bolin followed, though not before stopping and muttering something to Korra that Mako couldn't quite make out. Korra shook to her head to whatever Bolin had said, Bolin sighing, her pushed open the door and left Mako staring at Korra.

Asami and Kai were suddenly very aware that they were in a place they didn't belong. Asami mumbled something about heading out to check in with the rest of the investigations team before striding out of the store as quickly as her legs would allow. After a moment Kai followed Bolin and Koda's example, running into the back of the store leaving Mako and Korra out front. Alone. With one another.

* * *

_Great._

Korra finally, _finally, _lifted her turquoise eyes to meet with those of Mako's topaz ones. He was giving her a look of pure bewilderment, though shock and anger were also very visible in the depths of his liquid amber orbs. Anger. He was angry with her. Well of _course_ he was angry with her, what with the way she'd left. Korra wasn't about to say that he didn't have right to be mad. Because he did.

Mako stared at Korra for the longest time. He had a million questions to ask ranging from, _'What the hell are you doing here?' _to _'Why didn't you ever say goodbye?'_

When she raised her head to truly look at Mako, and he saw her eyes, he decided that the best question to start off with would be; "That boy…is he…?"

_'Is he your son?' _But the words sounded too unnatural for Mako to even comprehend. Korra with a child? He'd never believe it.

Mako's entire reality felt as though it had been shattered as Korra nodded her head slowly in response to his unfinished question, because of course, she knew where he was going with it. She'd always had an uncanny ability to read his mind.

"Is he why you left Republic City and the Council?"

Another nod. Mako was beginning to become agitated. "Do you know how to _speak_ or are you just going to keep on nodding your head and I hope that I accept that as an answer and leave?"

Korra sighed, closing her eyes. She suddenly looked incredibly tired. It hurt Mako just to _look_ at her. "What kind of answers do you _want_?" She finally demanded. Her voice echoed in his ears. He hadn't realised, until that moment, just how much he'd missed hearing it…

"I don't know, but…come on Korra, you have a _son_! How did that even happen?" Korra raised an eyebrow at him as if to say _'What, you don't know?' _"I mean, I know _how_ it happened, jeez, don't give me that look. Who…who's the father?"

Something briefly flashed in Korra's eyes, but was gone a moment later. "_That_," she stated firmly, "Is _none_ of your business." The tone of her voice made it clear to Mako not to push the matter further. Mako was no idiot; he let it go. "Now then, _Chief_, I'm fairly certain that you have an explosion you're meant to be investigating. Don't you think you should get back to work on that? This isn't paperwork after all. Though I suppose, you always were happier doing fieldwork, unless your procrastination tendencies have extended to _all_ areas of your job?"

If ever there was a clear dismissal, that was it. Mako stared at her for a long time, finally shaking his head in disbelief and turning away. "I'm sorry for disturbing you," he muttered as he exited the store, disheartened. Korra stared after him, fighting the ridiculous urge to call after him. It was better for him to leave. For everyone involved.

Maybe if she kept telling herself that, she'd come to believe it.

* * *

Asami eyed the Chief with concern as they started off down the street. Most of the stores on the street had already closed for the day, the owners and workers having been scared off by the explosion. They only found a few more people to question. It was clear to Asami that Mako's heart just wasn't in the task anymore. Seeing Korra, not to mention seeing Korra with her _son_, had really thrown him off.

"Koda. It's a strong name." Mako finally spoke as they made their way back to the explosion site. Asami raised an eyebrow at him, a bit confused. "It's just like her." His next question left her staggering. "Do you know who his father is?"

Asami nearly fell over. "You mean to say that it isn't _you_?!" She demanded loudly when she finally managed to recollect herself. Mako stopped in his tracks, whirling around to stare at Asami in disbelief.

"_Me_?! What? No! We never…I mean we _did_ but… our last time being together was just before Korra battled with Zaheer and the Red Lotus. Almost a decade ago. Koda's age doesn't fit." Mako spluttered, his face turning bright red when he realised he'd just opened up about his sex life to Asami, his ex-girlfriend from many a year ago AND Korra's best friend.

Asami forced her mouth to close, though she didn't succeed in wiping the bafflement that ruled her features. Mako _wasn't_ Koda's father? The thought had never struck her as a possibility.

But then…who the hell _was_?

* * *

"He _isn't_?"

Bolin splattered. He exchanged a baffled look with Kai, who was sprawled out on the couch, then looked back at Asami, who just nodded. She'd escaped from Mako as soon as she'd been relieved of her duties for the day, sprinting all the way to Bolin's house to fill him and Kai in on what Mako had revealed to her earlier that day.

"He said the last time he was intimate with Korra was almost a decade ago. Koda's age obviously doesn't fit in that time rage." While she felt a little uncomfortable delving out the information Mako had shared with her she couldn't help but want to unravel the mystery surrounding Koda's parentage.

"But…then…" Bolin shook his head, struggling to keep his thoughts on one track. "Then who is it?"

Not for the first time, the thought that Korra had lied to her about the circumstances under which Koda was conceived, crossed Asami's mind; Maybe Korra _really_ had been raped. But the possibility just didn't seem likely. Korra was stubborn in a lot of ways, but there was no way that she wouldn't report having been attacked, _especially _not when that left open the possibility of other people winding up hurt as well. Korra wouldn't want that one her conscience.

"Maybe Chief Mako lied?" Kai suggested after a moment. He didn't really sound like he believed _that_ possibility either.

"No way." Bolin stepped in to defend his brother. "If Mako had even an inkling that Koda was his, he'd be hassling Korra into the ground, trying to get her to confess. He's not the kind of guy to just leave someone to take care of _his_ responsibilities. If he thought that he might be Koda's father, he wouldn't run away from it."

"Spirits, this is insane," Asami mumbled, rubbing circles around her temples. "Who else _is_ there besides Mako? Korra's not exactly the type to jump into bed with just anybody. And she _certainly_ wouldn't do it without protection or something. She's too responsible for that. Not to mention she's in love with Mako, she has been for as long as I have known her. She wouldn't _want_ to sleep with anyone else…"

"Asami, you're going to give yourself a headache if you continue to think about it." Bolin informed the woman gently. Not that the whole situation wasn't driving _him_ insane as well. He didn't understand it anymore than Asami did. Bolin was well aware that Mako and Korra had been _together_ for a long time, Korra having met Mako only a short while after having met his younger brother. There was no way that two people, who were together for _that_ long, didn't develop _some_ kind of feelings for each other. And it was down right obvious from the way that Mako used to look at Korra, and her at Mako, that there was _something_ between of the two of them. That really only left one possibility.

But Mako swore that he hadn't slept with Korra in nearly a decade, leaving him and Asami high and dry. Everything they'd believed for the last six years had been a lie.

So, what was left?

* * *

"Mum?"

Korra was pulled out from her state of meditation when she heard Koda's small voice. She looked up to see him standing at the end of the hall that led to both their bedrooms. "Didn't I put you to bed an hour ago?" She asked, a little humor leaking into her voice as she unfolded her legs and stood, careful not to step on Naga's tail, who'd fallen asleep beside her.

"Are you okay?" Koda asked, disregarding his mothers' question. Korra raised an eyebrow at him, completely taken aback at his question.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You looked really upset when that man came into the store earlier." Korra cringed. She hadn't realised that Koda had noticed anything was wrong, though she shouldn't be surprised. He was very observant. _'Just like his father'_ Korra thought to herself. "And you were sad all night. I don't like it when you're sad."

Korra sighed. "Koda…come here." The boy did as he was told, crossing the room to where his mother was. Korra sat down on the couch, pulling Koda into her lap and allowing him to settle there. She ran her fingers through his messy hair as she spoke to him gently. "You know, you don't have to worry about me so much. That's not your responsibility. I'm the one who's supposed to worry about _you_, remember?" She reminded him, kissing him gently on his forehead.

Koda frowned. "But I don't like it when you're sad," he protested unhappily, looking into eyes identical to his own. Bolin was always complaining that Koda was far too much like his mother. Korra always replied that she didn't see how that was a bad thing though deep down, the last thing Korra wanted was Koda to be like _her_.

"But that's not something that you should be worrying about. What am I always telling you Koda?"

"You're the parent and I'm the kid?" Korra smiled softly, brushing a stubborn lock of Koda's hair out of his eyes.

"Exactly. _I'm_ the parent. Leave the worrying to me, okay?"

"Kay." Koda sighed. "But try not to be sad. I don't like it when you're sad."

Korra laughed softly, squeezing Koda in a hug, who buried his face into her shoulder, trying to mask a yawn. He couldn't fool Korra though.

"All right, it's _way_ past your bed time Mister. Why don't we try this 'tucking you in' thing again? I clearly did it wrong the last time if you managed to get out."

Koda giggled. Korra couldn't stop herself from smiling at the sound as she stood, her arms still wrapped around him. She would never give this up for _anything_.

Not even if it meant having Mako back in her life.

* * *

_Mako shifted his eyes, Spirits did it feel good to see her again, to where Avatar Korra was currently sleeping. She looked so vulnerable and small in that large bed, the bruises and scratches she'd gained in her battle against Zaheer and the Red Lotus standing out in stark contrast on her otherwise flawless chocolate coloured skin. _

_All at once unwarranted screams of agony, shrill and desperate, that had come from Avatar Korra's lungs replayed in Mako's head. He shook his head furiously. _

Don't think about it.

_Not that the words helped. He knew that day, that particular event, would haunt his nightmares as frequently as the day he lost his parents, for the rest of his life._

She had almost died.

_The thought had occurred to Mako many times before now, of course. As he'd held her in his arms as Suyin Beifong had extracted the mercury from within Korra's body, as he'd asked her, despite her obvious injuries, if she was okay, as she'd assured him in her dazed state that she was going to be fine, and so many other times that Mako had lost count, all he'd been able to think was that she'd almost died. He'd almost allowed her to die._

_If the Airbenders hadn't turned up when they had, Mako was fairly certain that he would have lost her. His oldest friend, his _dearest_ friend…_

_The woman he loved. _

_But she was safe now. They were all safe. It was all over._

_And Mako would never have to worry about losing her again._

Mako stared hard at the bottle of rum in front of him. Despite the fact that he'd been home for two hours, and staring at the bottle for an hour and a half of that, he had yet to actually pour himself a glass.

His mind seemed determined to stay clear tonight. It wanted to think over everything he'd learnt just hours prior. Despite the fact that _he_ just wanted to forget.

_Asami swore she didn't know who the boys' father was…she seemed to think it was me. But that's just insane, there's no way…which doesn't help me with who it _could_ be. Maybe it's Bolin…ugh. No. There's just no way Korra would have slept with Bolin. Maybe she had a boyfriend I didn't know about? Though Korra never was good at keeping her personal life out of the limelight. Still, it's possible that she was going out with someone, and I just didn't know about it._

Somehow though Mako very much doubted that to be the case. Korra spent too much time fulfilling her Avatar duties and training to have any kind of social life, asides from the limited time she'd had to hang out with old 'Team Avatar', and there was no way she'd just jump into bed with some guy she'd only just met. That just wasn't the kind of person that she was.

_Yeah, because leaving the council and Republic City, running away and not telling anyone where she was for six years was really the type of person that Korra was._

_Maybe she was raped_, a voice in the back of Mako's mind spoke up. The thought struck Mako hard, but he shook it from his head almost instantly. No way. Even if that _had_ happened to Korra, and considering that she was the Avatar, master of more than four elements, Mako highly doubted it had. Which left him right back at square one. He had _nothing _to go on.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

* * *

It _really_ wasn't necessary for Mako to return to the site of the bombing the next day. The team who'd been overseeing the excavation of the blast site had been thoroughly examining everything they had found that looked like it might have played a role in the explosion. Though as it turned out, they'd made no progress on finding the cause _or_ closing the investigation.

"Chief, may I ask why we're returning to the blast site?" Beifong asked as she turned the Sato Mobile onto the street that would lead them down town.

"There's something I want to check out," Mako said shortly. "Though I could have come alone, you didn't need to drive me."

Beifong didn't answer, silence ensuing until they'd reached the blast site. Despite the fact that it was only a little after ten, people were already hard at work, and a crowd had gathered in order to watch the efforts of the investigation. Mako was surprised to see that among the crowd were Kai and little Koda. They were standing behind the yellow 'caution' tape that separated them from the investigative team. Mako noticed that Koda was occupied with chatting to Li, one of the officers, seemingly fascinated with whatever the team had found.

"And what does that thing do?"

Li laughed, patiently explaining to what the piece of equipment was used for. "It picks up odd frequencies in the air, that way if another explosion were to happen, we'd know before it took place."

"Oh, what about-"

"Making friends, Li?"

Li's head snapped up, his eyes widening in surprise upon seeing his superior. "Chief Mako!" He instantly jumped, saluting him quickly. "What are you doing here Chief?"

"Just checking in on a few things." Mako shifted his eyes to look at Koda, surprised to find that the boy was scowling at him.

"Koda?" Apparently Kai had seen the look Koda had given Mako. "What's wrong?"

"I don't like that man," Koda informed Kai with a scowl. "He made mum sad yesterday."

_Ouch_. Mako tried not to let that hit him too hard. Korra's son _hated_ him. Wonderful. "Come on Koda, he didn't mean to." Kai tried to reassure the boy, resting his hand on the boys head and ruffling his hair. "I know the Chief, he's a really good guy. He would never intentionally hurt anybody." Kai certainly seemed to have a lot of faith in Mako, despite their rocky start all those years ago. "Anyway, we'd better get back to the store. Your mum and Bolin might start to worry if we're gone for too long."

"Kay." Koda cast Mako a distrustful look before turning to look at Li. "Thanks for telling me about your machines Mister."

"Any time." Li smiled. The smile faded as Kai led Koda back through the crowded street. Suddenly Li looked a little disturbed.

"Something wrong?" Beifong asked the technician. Li shook his head slowly.

"Not really, just…did you see his _eyes_? They looked exactly like Avatar Korra's. It's kind of off-putting."

Clearly it was dangerous to let Koda be seen by anybody who Korra had once known. Everybody and anybody could recognise those eyes. It really wasn't a common eye colour to begin with, and something about the shape of them just alerted people to the fact that they were _Korra's_ eyes. Mako couldn't blame Li for finding it a little off-putting.

Still at least no one was questioning him on the earlier comment Koda had made about him having upset his mother, the Avatar, yesterday. He decided to make his retreat before someone _did_ decide to bring it up.

"I need to follow up on a few things…I won't be long. Beifong, just stay here, I'll be back soon."

He took off before anyone could question him.

* * *

"We're not going to have any customers today, are we?"

"I wouldn't count on it."

Bolin and Korra sighed in unison. They'd opened up the store, as usual, not wanting to lose another day of business. But a fat lot of good it was going to be if no one was willing to venture out of their house.

It was going to be a _long_ day.

"Hey, I know how we can pass the time," Bolin said suddenly, grinning as he did. Korra rolled her eyes, knowing exactly where he was going with what he'd said.

"We are _not_ playing Truth or Dare."

"That's not what I was going to suggest." Korra raised her eyebrows.

"Oh really? Then pray-tell, what _were_ you going to suggest?"

"I was going to suggest how you can explain to me how Mako could be Koda's father."

Korra didn't even bother asking how Bolin knew about _that_. No doubt Asami had grilled Mako after they'd left the store the other day. "Well, I'm not the one who told you he _was_ Koda's father, you just assumed that. And if Mako revealed anything to either of you about our past intimacies, you'd know that Koda's age doesn't add up." Korra stated.

"Oh come on!" Bolin groaned unhappily. "Who the hell _else_ could it be?" Korra didn't answer. "Fine then, I'm going to start listing men and see what kind of reaction I get; Li." Korra rolled her eyes. "Hasook." Korra shuddered. "Ryu." Another roll of the eyes. "Ming." A shake of the head this time. "Tahno." The horrified look that Korra gave Bolin trumped every other horrified look in the history of horrified looks. "Right, were going to forget I ever said that one. Um…seriously Kor, come on, I'm running out of people here."

"Then stop guessing."

"Then tell me who Koda's father is!"

"Or what? You'll fire me?" Bolin didn't answer. "You can't run this place by yourself and the rest of your family are back in Republic City running their own store, they won't be able to come back here and help you. Unless you can find someone to replace me, we're stuck with each other, whether you like it or not Bo."

"You know I'd ever make you leave," Bolin mumbled. "But Spirits Korra, what are you going to do when _Koda_ starts asking about his father; you know he's going to eventually. Don't you think he deserves better than 'you're better off not knowing' or 'it doesn't matter'?" Bolin was very sensitive when it came to the topic of Korra's parenting choices.

Of course Koda deserved better. The problem was Korra didn't know where to _begin_. Bolin sighed when Korra didn't respond, and finally ventured to ask the question that had been hovering in the back of his mind for over six years: "You weren't…raped, were you?"

Korra's head snapped up, her wide, surprise-filled eyes meeting Bolin's earthly green ones. "What? No…No of course not!"

She sounded truly shocked that Bolin could have come to such a conclusion. He had a feeling she wasn't lying.

"Then who-"

Bolin's question was cut short as the front door to the store opened, bell jingling merrily. If only it was a customer who had come in to distract them. "Hi mum!" Koda chirped as he ran around the counter, throwing his arms around Korra's waist and hugging her tightly. Korra had never in her life been so grateful to see her son.

"Hey bud. You and Kai enjoy your walk?"

"Ahuh!" We went down to where the explosion was, and there was this really nice guy there with all these different machines and stuff. He even told me what they all did!"

"Li." Bolin and Korra said in unison. Kai nodded in confirmation, though it hadn't really been a question.

"And that mean guy that was here yesterday with Aunt Asami was there too, and he…"

The remainders of Koda's words were lost in the sudden white noise that filled Korra's ears. Mako was there too. He was back in town. There was no need for him to have come back again; he should have been back at Head Quarters filling in all the paperwork he'd missed yesterday.

Bolin didn't miss the parade of emotion that flitted across Korra's face when Koda mentioned 'that mean guy'. She was probably thinking the same thing as Bolin; there was only one reason why Mako would have come back to Ba Sing Se.

* * *

_Damn it…I think I'm lost._

Mako turned in a slow circle. There was absolutely _nothing_ familiar about _any_ of the buildings that currently surrounded him. And what was worse was that the street was _completely_ empty- nobody had opened their stores during the aftermath of the recent explosion, so there was nobody around that Mako could ask for directions. But even if there had been, what could he have said? He didn't exactly know the name of the store he was looking for. Maybe he could drop either Korra's or Bolin's names and see what came of that, but then he considered the fact that Korra had left Republic City was probably a sign of her wanting to stay anonymous.

_Wham!_

Something hard connected with the back of Mako's head, causing him to stumble forward, flashes of light forming before his eyes.

_What the…_

"What do you think you're doing here? Get the hell out of this place!"

Mako whirled around, one hand flying to the now throbbing back of his head. He found himself face to face with a rather angry and slightly crazed looking old man. He was garbed in tattered clothes; he probably lived on the streets, Mako concluded as he stared the man down, still unsure of what to make of the situation. "What, is there something wrong with your hearing?" The man demanded when Mako didn't respond. Mako's attention was caught when he saw a small rock floating beside the man. There were small blots of blood on it. Mako realised it was _his _blood as he pulled his hand away from his head and saw it covered in the red liquid. "Nobody wants you police personnel here, just _get out_!"

Mako took a step back as the man darted forward, clearly intent on attacking again. Mako's fists burst into small flame daggers; he wouldn't kill the man of course, just singe him enough to teach him a lesson and send him on his way.

Another _wham_!

Mako jumped as a giant boulder went soaring past him, crashing into the building behind the crazed man. Mako's head whipped around; he wasn't surprised to see Korra standing behind him, her stance that of someone that had just Earth bent. "I suggest you back off, Varrick." Her voice dripping with ice. "The next boulder I bend will be marked for a very sensitive part of your body otherwise."

The man narrowed his eyes at Korra, muttering something under his breath. "You need to learn to mind your own business, _Avatar_," he finally snarled, his eyes filled with rage. "Your little tendency to play the hero is going to get you in trouble _some day_."

Korra's response was to raise another boulder so it was pointing at the mans crotch. Finally he turned and stormed off.

Korra's eyes shifted to look at Mako. Korra cursed herself mentally. _Why the hell had she gotten involved, Mako could have handled that on his own. _There'd been absolutely no reason to Earth Bend a couple of boulders.

"Thank you."

Mako's soft voice cut through Korra's angry musings. "Sure," she mumbled, returning to stand in a more normal position. Her eyes moved to look at Mako's hands; she was surprised to see they were smeared with blood. "You're hurt." She cursed herself again upon hearing her own voice twist with concern as she spoke the two words. Mako looked down at his own two hands.

"Oh yeah. That Varrick guy bent a rock at the back of my head, guess he got me pretty good…" Mako's voice drifted off as Korra approached him, walking behind him to examine the damage.

"I don't think you'll need stitches." she said a moment later. "I'll have to stop the bleeding though, get a better look at it before I can know for sure."

"Yeah sure…Wait, what?"

Korra sighed, running a hand through her chocolate coloured hair. "Just follow me," she muttered. He could have just gone to the local clinic to get treated, it certainly wasn't a life threatening injury.

But there was just something about her seeing him _bleed_…

"Stay close to me. People don't receive the Republic City police well in these parts of town. They were wrong too many times in the past to be at all forgiving."

Mako snorted as they made their way down the street. "I'm guessing they don't know about Bolin's past experiences with the 'Uniters Personal Army' either?"

Korra just shook her head.

* * *

Bolin and Kai were surprised, to say in the least, when Korra walked back into the store with Mako tailing her. "We send her out to find a place that was open for lunch, and she returns with the Head of Police. I'm not sure how that works out, but okay."

Koda darted out from the back room, his grin failing him upon landing his eyes on who had accompanied his mother back to the store. "Hey, what's the mean guy doing here?" He demanded unhappily.

"Koda!" Korra scolded her son loudly, surprising everyone. Koda's eyes snapped to look at his mother, confusion spreading across his features. "We do _not_ talk about other people that way, especially when they're standing _right in front_ of us. Understood?" Koda nodded. "Good. Now apologise."

"Sorry…" Koda muttered, scuffing his shoes against the floor.

"Good. Now go out back and grab the bottle of spirit water for me please. It should be where we left it after Uncle Bolin tried to fix the light."

"Okay." Koda turned and made his way to the back room. Bolin raised an eyebrow at Korra as she led Mako around the counter, shoving him into the chair they kept there. His confusion turned to shock upon seeing the nasty gash on the back of Mako's head.

"Bro, what the hell happened to you?"

"Crazy Varrick." Korra replied shortly. Bolin snorted, clearly amused on hearing about this.

"Who's crazy Varrick?" Kai asked as Koda came out with the bottle of spirit water.

"Crazy Varrick." The boy giggled as he handed the bottle of spirit water to Korra, who smiled as she set it down on the counter, opening it and bending out a small amount of the water into her hands.

"_Who's_ crazy Varrick?" Mako repeated Kai's question.

"This crazy old guy who lives on the streets," Bolin said with a small smirk. "Walking around with a Police Badge makes you a walking target for him. He barely likes people as it is."

"He yells at pigeons," Koda added with a giggle. Before Mako could say anything, a wet sensation made contact with the area around his wound, stinging him a little.

"Head wounds bleed a lot," Korra muttered, sounding a little annoyed. "I really don't think you need stitches though. The spirit water should heal it just fine."

"I trust you." Mako assured her as she started healing the wound. Mako hadn't forgotten that _Korra_ had been the one to fix all the various injuries he'd received over the years that they were together on Team Avatar. She was as good a healer as Master Katara, if not better in his opinion.

The merry jingle of the bell over the door drew everybody's attention in hopes of actually seeing a customer. They're hearts fell as they saw Lin Beifong poking her head through the door. "Um…" The poor woman looked bewildered as she shifted her eyes between Mako and Korra, who'd just finished healing the gash on Mako's head, to Bolin, Kai and then Koda, who stared at her curiously. "I heard what sounded like boulders crashing around so I just wanted to check if the Chief was here…"

"Sorry Beifong," Mako stood with a grimace, rubbing the back of his head. "I got into a bit of a scuffle, nothing to be too concerned about. Everything's fine."

"Ugh…Right." Korra would have laughed at the look on Beifong's face if she wasn't in such a bad mood. "Long time no see Bolin. _Korra_." She nodded at the both of them, eyes lingering on Korra before stepping out of the store to wait for Mako.

"I'm hungry," Koda spoke up suddenly, breaking the incredibly intense silence. He had his hands splayed out behind him on the counter, his legs swinging as he sat there.

"That's right, we never got lunch." Bolin said thoughtfully.

"If you can find another store that's open besides this one, then all power to you," Korra said as she screwed the lid tightly shut on the bottle of spirit water, storing it under the counter. Bolin sighed.

"Fine, point taken. We're closing. Take Koda home before the kid starves."

"Yay!" Koda cheered joyfully as he slid off the counter. He ran over to Korra, wrapping his tiny arms around her waist. "Let's go, Let's go!"

"All right, all right." Korra laughed quietly as she detangled herself from his grasp, heaving him up off the ground and holding him to her body. "Let's get going."

Korra seemed determined not to meet Mako's gaze as she left the store with Koda. "Bye Uncle Bolin, bye Kai, bye-" Koda cut himself off, realising he didn't know Mako's name. "Um…bye Mr…ugh…?"

Mako chuckled at the boys' distress. "You can call me Mako." He told the child gently. Koda grinned.

"Bye Mako!"

It wasn't until Korra was halfway home that she realised Mako had given Koda permission to call him by his first name, rather than 'Chief', as if it was a sign that he planned to be around a lot.

_Oh this just _isn't_ going to work…_

* * *

"Korra's the reason you came back today, isn't she?" Lin Beifong asked, though it was more a rhetorical question than an actual question. Mako didn't answer. "I knew that he was the reason she left. Her son, I mean."

Mako stopped dead in his tracks, not sure if what he'd just heard was the truth or some kind of sick joke. "You _knew_…? This whole time, you've known _where_ she was, _why_ she left and you didn't bother to mention it? Not once, in _SIX_ years?!" Mako had finally lost his cool. After a moment Mako whispered; "For six years I'd been gong out of my mind at the thought of never seeing her again..."

Beifong, while not surprised at his earlier outburst, hesitated before speaking once more. "If it's any consolation to you, I swore to Korra not to tell you, or anyone else, where she was and why she'd left. I'm sorry." She confessed.

Mako was forced to lean up against a nearby wall, having become drearily dizzy. He wanted to believe it was from his previous run-in with crazy Varrick, but he knew, deep down, it was due to Beifong's sudden confession.

"No…You don't have anything to apologise for Beifong. Korra trusted you to protect her from anyone finding out. If anything, I should be thanking you for not breaking the promise you made to her." Mako confided to Beifong, still struggling to wrap his head around the onslaught of information now pooling into the forefront of his mind.

"I truly am sorry, Chief."

There was a pause.

"You know, you'd think after all these years you would be comfortable enough with me to just call me Mako. I might be your superior now, but you could still totally whip my ass, Beifong." Mako smiled softly.

"And don't you damn well forget it, _Mako_." Both Beifong and Mako smiled at one another.

It _had_ been a long day.

* * *

Eyyyyyy! Chapter Four. I've churned through four chapters of the story in five days. My brain is fried. Anywho, review and let me know what you think! Also for anyone wondering, Koda is named after 'Hakoda', Sokka and Katara's father who was the chieftain of a small group of warriors in the South Pole. I chose this name as I couldn't really imagine Korra naming her child without the name having some connection to her heritage, so Koda was what I came up with. That is all!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Now before you guys start reading I'd like to give a big shout out to nuktuk who very kindly allowed me to use and alter her fic 'Don't let me go' for the Flashback scene. I myself read and fell in love with the fanfic (well, I love all her fanfiction actually) and I really felt that it would work well with the ideas I had for the flashback scene. Luckily when I asked if I could use it she said yes! So be sure to pay her Tumblr a visit and read ALL of her fics!

Also SMUT SMUT SMUT.

That is all.

* * *

"Yum!" Koda cheered as his mother set down a bowl of water tribe noodles in front of him. "Thanks mum!"

Korra smiled, patting the boys' head as she watched him slurp up the noodles, creating quite a mess as he did. He was easy to please at least…

"Hey mum?" Korra, who had just sat down opposite him at the small dining room table to start eating her own bowl of noodles, looked up at Koda, who was watching her with curious eyes. "Who's Mako?"

Korra bit her lip, her heart hitching in her chest. She couldn't deny that she hadn't expected him to ask eventually… "He's just an old friend." As if he'd really let her get away with that.

"Aren't people supposed to be _happy_ when they see their friends? When you saw Mako the other day you looked really sad, and again today when you were healing his head."

Koda was officially _way_ too intuitive for his own good. Korra shook her head slightly, "It's a long story bud. I'll tell you when you're older, okay?"

Koda sighed, exasperated. "You _always_ say that mum. I can't wait to turn seven!"

Korra laughed softly. Sometimes, she would have loved to be Koda's age again. To go back to a time when life was still somewhat simple, despite already being aware that she was the Avatar, she'd still been with her family. There'd been no White Lotus Sentries…no days of brutal training and testing…and there had been no Mako.

It really sounded like a wonderful time.

* * *

_"__Korra..."__Mako whispered in that intoxicatingly husky voice of his. His arms draped around her body, wrapping their naked bodies together, in a sweet, warm embrace. _

_"Mako," Korra breathed out, as he trailed desperate, open-mouthed kisses along the lines of her jaw and down her neck. "We can't keep doing this. Tonight is the last time. Both of us have our duties to the citizens of Republic City, you as the Chief of Police, and myself, as the Avatar."_

'Huh. And since when did you ever care about fulfilling those Avatar Duties anyway?' _A voice in Korra's head pointed out. She shook her head slightly, _

_Korra could feel his arm snake behind her back and hip, pulling her to him in a shaking tremble, clutching onto the woman, who he loved above all else. Mako placed his chin at the crook of her neck as his thoughts tortured him. _

_Why couldn't they have both? What could possibly be the problem with the two of them being together like this? Was, tonight, really…the last night? Their last night? He just couldn't understand._

_Although he loved her and although she loved him back, he'd always known that she belonged to the world. Their love would always come second, no matter how strong or passionate it became. _

_Mako sighed in dejection. _

_He didn't care if he was called selfish; __He knew he was. He also knew, despite how many times he had begged and pleaded with her, proclaiming his love to her, Korra had made up her mind and there was __nothing he could do to change it. _

_The sound of her voice broke him from his thoughts._

_"__As tonight is our last… please, show me all the reasons why I fell in love with you. Make love to me, Mako. _One last time_."_

_Before he could answer, their lips melded into one another; desperately holding upon the sweetness and ache that was coursing through their loins._

_"Korra," he murmured in desire and want. He hastily opened up her legs and plunged himself into her depths, flushing when he felt her wetness seep into him. She was so soft, and slick against his member. __Her body began to rise, and lift with each tender roll of his hips. He brought his mouth to her top lip, and engulfed her in another, guttural kiss. A soft groan escaped her throat as she accepted his harsh and animalistic squeezes and pulses. _

_Mako watched her intently, as each of his movements brought her into a more desperate and uncontrolled frenzy. She could feel her heart pound against her chest sporadically, as his hands drifted to places only _he_ was allowed to touch. His eyes, full of lust, bore into her and he watched in erotic amazement at how her jaw would slacken when he tilted his hips against her top labia; and how her eyes would drift into tiny slits when he pressed himself against the gland above her opening._

_"You're so beautiful," he murmured. "So, so beautiful," he repeated. Anticipation started to build within their stomachs, as the head of his manhood brushed and rubbed against her sopping, silky entrance. "Do, you feel good, Korra?" he whispered into her ear. Nails scratched down his back, bringing their bodies closer together, as his finger drifted between her wet folds. Mako's lips trailed down from her neck to her stomach, where it stopped to linger in between her thighs._

_"Yes," she sighed, rubbing the side of her cheek against his stubble. "Nggnh," she cried out, burying her head, in the crook of his neck, muffling her moan of ecstasy._

_Mako pulled back and watched as her hips rose up to him. In response, he smirked and blew soft, chilly air against her sensitive pearl. Mako slithered up and kissed her tenderly, pouring his love into her mouth. His thumb probed her sopping cunt, opening her up for him. Gentle touches, and soft kisses followed and before she knew it, he was inside her again._

_"I love you, I love you," he whispered in frantic desperation, "Spirits, know just _how much_, I love you." Their movements were steady and slow, drawing out each precise stroke, and savoring each slow, languid kiss. Limbs tangled into one entity, and their sweat was soaked upon their bodies. _

_Mako watched through hazy eyes, and sweaty bangs as he encased her face, between his forearms. His pace quickening as he tenderly whispered "Be with me…" Korra's eyes opened in utter shock. _

_"Mako," her voice shook. Here _she_ was: With the person she knew was her one and only soul mate, about to shatter everything they'd ever shared with one another. _

_And here _he_ was: Asking for the impossible, and hoping for the best. He was so kind, and gentle. Mako was only devoted to _her_; _her_ feelings and _her_ needs. _

_And here _they_ were: Doing the only natural things that couples did to show their devotion to one another. Experiencing one another for the last time._

_When Mako felt what he assumed was sweat trickle down his cheek, he looked up into Korra's face, noticing tears brimming out of her turquoise eyes._

_"Korra," he murmured in terrified worry, "A-are you okay?" __He didn't take his eyes off her, concern filling his eyes, "Korra?"_

_"I love you," she whispered through her tears, pressing her lips to his, "Make love to me." _

_"But," he broke their kiss, "Korra what is your answer?"_

_She cut off his words with her lips as she flipped them over. "Mako…" she whimpered to him, biting his neck. Her voice hitched as he held her thrashing hips down. He pulled back, in silence, only so he could ram back into her. Korra tilted her head back in euphoria, meeting his frantic thrusts, as their skin slapped against the others in frenzy. Mako pulled at her skin as he opened her legs wide, staring at how his member pierced into her in fast, deep plunges,_

_"__Korra," he screamed back. Her nails racked down his body, causing a groan and a rough buck. Mako could feel her beginning to convulse around him…_

_Her smile was the last thing he remembered before his senses were met with an oblivion of darkness._

* * *

"Mum?"

Korra looked up from the bowl of noodles that she'd been occupied with staring at for the past ten minutes. "Sorry Koda, what were you saying?"

"I've finished eating, can I go out and play with Naga?" Korra smiled weakly.

"Sure. I'll be out in a few minutes. I just need to finish eating this, okay?"

"Kay." Koda nodded happily as pushed his chair in and took his now empty bowl to the sink. He ran down the hall and to the front door, pulled on his shoes and ran outside. Korra stared after him, her smile fading as she went back to eating.

_She hadn't quite known how to react when Mako had walked into City Hall for the scheduled Council meeting the next day, nearly two hours late, complaining that he was having difficulties remembering things. On the one hand she'd been relieved that her energy bending had been successful in erasing any memories he'd had of the two of them together. But on the other hand, the idea that she'd somehow managed to erase those memories from his mind for all eternity was more than simply 'heart-breaking' to her. _

_The inexplicable pain and anguish at her actions that she'd felt a month and half later was like nothing she'd ever experienced before; She was pregnant. _

_Not that Korra would have changed any of it. Or had ever even _considered_ changing it. She loved Koda too much. She loved the quiet life they'd made for themselves, away from Republic City and the things that had haunted Korra for the majority of her young life. It was just her and her little boy; and of course two old friends who both enjoyed spoiling Koda and supporting Korra. _

Koda shrieked suddenly, jarring Korra from her thoughts. It wasn't a distressed shriek, so she was sure that she had nothing to worry about, but that didn't stop her jumping up from her seat and rushing to the window. She wasn't at all surprised to see Koda pinned to the ground by Naga, who was licking his face affectionately. Korra couldn't stop the grin that had begun to spread across her face.

_No. She wouldn't change a thing._

* * *

"Ms Sato."

Asami stepped away from the Sato Mobile she'd been in the middle of repairing, looking up to see Mako standing in front of her, looking purely and utterly defeated. His expression left Asami dumbfounded.

"Hey Chief." She said, trying to play it cool. "Haven't seen you around for a while. What's up?" She smiled at him, trying to lighten the mood.

"Can we go somewhere and just…talk?" Mako asked her quietly, refusing to meet her eyes.

Asami's smile faded instantly. She knew what he was there for. "Okay, hang on a minute." She sighed, packing away her tools and grabbing her coat that had been slung over a nearby chair. "Come on."

Mako followed Asami wordlessly to the currently empty factory office. She closed the door behind him, locking it as she did. "That desperate for privacy, Asami?"

She turned to face him, a stern expression upon her face. "Korra went through a lot of trouble to disappear, I just don't want anyone to walk in and possibly recognise her name. She wants to be left alone."

"Letting a kid that looks _exactly_ like her run around a town currently crawling with Republic City Police isn't exactly the best route of action if she's trying to stay hidden. Koda was speaking with Li today, he recognised the eyes immediately."

"Yeah well, that isn't exactly something Korra has any control over, nor can she expect Koda to stay locked inside like some kind of criminal. He's done nothing wrong." Asami explained through gritted teeth. "Anyway, you said something about wanting to talk. I'm guessing you have more questions…? And what happened to the back of your head?" Asami asked, having noticed the not quite healed gash.

"Ever heard of a guy named 'Crazy Varrick?'"

Asami couldn't help but laugh. "You met Crazy Varrick? I don't need to ask to know how that went for you. I have surprised though, Beifong's such a good bodyguard. How'd she let that guy slip past her?"

"I left her at the blast site. I was…trying to find Korra." He felt like he was admitting to having committed a terrible crime. Asami raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't say anything. "I got lucky, she happened to be out…I don't know, trying to find a place to get lunch or something."

"I'm going to guess that she's the one who healed your head?" Mako nodded silently. "Thought so. Korra's never really been good at not getting involved in situations that really don't concern her in the first place." Mako didn't know what to say to that, after all he owed Korra for helping him out. "But I know you're not here to speak about Crazy Varrick though. What's on your mind?"

Mako ran a hand through his hand. He really had _one_ question he wanted to ask, but he was sure it would lead him to others. "Why did she feel she had to leave the Council? I mean, almost everyone on it have families of his or her own. They seem to manage both home and work life just fine."

"Yeah…Um. You seem to be missing a vital point Mako: Korra's the _Avatar_." Asami pointed out to him. "Besides she was a bit…oh, what's the word I'm looking for...? Freaked out. Not to mention, but Korra was only twenty-one years old when she fell pregnant with Koda. It was half the reason I helped her to run away, but that never meant that I ever agreed with it."

Mako failed to comprehend it. He'd always used the expression 'partners in crime' to describe the relationship between Asami and Korra, but he'd never thought it would become a literal term. "What do you mean Asami?"

Asami sighed as she recalled the memory from all those years ago. Even after all these years it hurt her just to _think_ about it.

* * *

_"__Come on Korra! Open up!" Asami shouted as she knocked her knuckles against Korra's apartment door. Nobody had seen or heard from the chocolate haired woman in over a week now. She'd asked for a couple of days sick leave, excusing her from having to attend any meetings or scheduled public outings, and that had been the last anyone had heard from her. She wasn't answering the phone and refused to open the door to anyone who'd come by._

_Asami wasn't going to allow Korra to ignore _her_ though. "Fine Korra," she muttered, reaching a hand down to the doorknob. "If this door isn't opened in a minute, I'm kicking it down."_

_Luckily it didn't come to that. The door gave way under Asami's grasp. The raven-haired woman made a face as she made her way through the apartment, her eyes looking around. It was dark mostly, save for the light from the streetlamps leaking in through the windows. "Korra?" Asami called quietly, searching for her best friend. Her eyes landed on a shadowy figure curled up on the couch. Asami walked over to the side table that she knew was next to the couch, turning on the lamp that sat upon it. The light revealed Korra, who was curled up into a ball at the opposite end of the couch, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs, her face resting on her knees. She was wearing a pair of track pants and an overly bag t-shirt, which Asami later came to recognise as Korra's old Pro-bending practice shirt. _

_"__Korra…what the hell?"_

_Korra didn't raise her face to look at her best friend; she just continued to stare down at her feet, her gaze distant and her turquoise orbs clouded over. Asami was beginning to feel scared; she'd only seen Korra like this once before, and that was when she'd been at the lowest point in her entire life. Asami sat down on the couch next to Korra, taking Korra's hand in her own. Korra shivered a bit when Asami's hand made contact with her own._

_Asami was definitely scared. "Come on Korra, talk to me, what's going on?" Asami was relieved when she finally got a reaction, even if it was just Korra shaking her head. "You've been away from Council meetings all week, nobody's heard from you and Mako's going out of his mind. What's up with you?"_

_"__Asami, there's a reason I haven't been going to the meetings," Korra mumbled, closing her eyes and pulling in a deep breath._

_"__Yeah, and I'm here to find out why," Asami shot back at once. "_Why_ haven't you been going to the meetings?"_

_"I've been sick."_

_Taking in the colour of Korra's complexion, and the dark circles under her eyes that stood out in stark contrast against her mocha skin, Asami really didn't doubt what Korra was telling her. Korra wasn't the type of person who let being sick get in the way of her Avatar duties though. Asami still remembered the time Korra had attended the opening of the new pro-bending arena, only to collapse half way through the ceremony due to her having pneumonia. _

_"__You've never considered that a reason for skipping out before, and I highly doubt that you've changed your ideals since the last time you were sick." Korra didn't answer. Asami sighed, taking her other hand and brushing a few strands of chocolate hair from her best friends face. "Come on Kor, I'm really worried, everybody is. Just talk to me, you know you can tell me anythi-"_

_"__I'm pregnant."_

_Asami stopped mid-word, her mouth hanging open. She stared at Korra for a long while, her eyes wide. "You…you're…what did you just say?" She finally managed to choke out. Korra reached over to the side table, not bothering to open her eyes as she grabbed a folded piece of paper and handed it to Asami. Asami unfolded it, her eyes scanning through the letter. Asami noticed it was written in Master Katara's handwriting. "You're…pregnant."_

_"__Very good Asami." The biting sarcasm in Korra's voice fell entirely flat. Asami wasn't sure what to say at this point._

_"__Oh Spirits Korra…" Asami shook her head a few times, trying to process what she'd just discovered. "You…I mean…_who_?"_

_Korra knew what Asami was asking, but she played dumb anyway. "Who what?"_

_"__Don't play dumb with me Korra. Who's the father?" Asami's eyes widened even more, as if that were possible, as a new thought struck her. "Oh my God. It's Mako, isn't it?" No reaction. "Oh I knew it, you and Mako are _together_ again."_

_"__It's not Mako." Korra interrupted._

_"__Then who is it?" Asami demanded. Korra just shook her head. _

_"__I can't tell you."_

_"__Why not?" Asami paused for a while. "Wait, you weren't raped were you?"_

_For the first time, Korra's eyes flashed with some sort of life. "Of course not! I know who the father is and it was _completely_ consensual. Did you ever stop to think that maybe I don't _want_ to tell you who the father is?" _

_Asami certainly wasn't about to let this go, but she knew she wouldn't be getting the answers she wanted tonight. She decided to move on. "So what, you've just been sitting in your apartment all week? Why haven't you gone to the meetings?"_

_Korra reached over to the side table again, grabbing another piece of paper and handing it to Asami, who took it and promptly unfolded it, her eyes skimming the words quickly. Said eyes grew wider even still as she did. "This is a letter asking for a leave of absence."_

_"__Again, very good Asami."_

_"__You're leaving the Council."_

_"__I don't know." Korra huffed in pure frustration as she unwrapped her arms from around her legs, standing up and rubbing her eyes. "I don't know _what_ I'm going to do Asami."_

_Asami stood as well, resting a hand on her obviously aggravated friends shoulder. "Let me in Kor. What are you thinking?"_

_Korra sighed, shaking her head. "I just…I've been going back and forth in my head all week, trying to figure this out…Asami, I can't stay on the Council if I'm going to have this baby. Yes, things have become a lot less dangerous since we took care of Kuvira and Wu took up his rightful place as the King of the Earth Kingdom, but that doesn't mean all threats have been completely eradicated. And I could never…never abandon my child. You, Mako and Bolin all know what it's like to lose parents; I could never put another child through that pain. And if I were to die… If I were to die, my child would have no one."_

_"__What about the father?" Asami demanded. Korra just shook her head. "Wait a minute, does _he_ know you're pregnant?" Another headshake. "Korra, what the hell-?"_

_"__I can't tell him Asami. It's complicated."_

_"__I'll try to keep up." Asami said sarcastically. Korra didn't respond for an eternity, finally saying._

_"__I can't. So please stop asking."_

_As if that would happen. Again though, Asami let the matter drop, for the time being anyway. "Fine. What about adoption?"_

_Korra's face fell at the question. "I thought about it." She admitted solemnly. "But I…the whole idea of it is just…I _can't_. I know I'm not being completely logical right now but the idea of giving up _this_ child is…it feels like a betrayal."_

_Asami sighed, wrapping both her arms around Korra's shaking form, hugging her tightly. "That's how you feel Korra, there's nothing wrong with it."_

_Korra rested her head against Asami's shoulder, closing her eyes once more. "I don't know what to do Asami."_

_"__Yes you do," Asami disagreed quietly. Korra had already made her decision of course. She just needed someone to support her._

_Asami could, and would do that._

* * *

Mako stared at Asami as the story came to a close. He was having a very hard time imagining the frightened and confused Korra she had described to the Korra that he himself knew. The images just refused to connect in his mind.

"I never thought she made the right decision, not telling Koda's father and running away from her responsibilities to the citizens of Republic City, heck the world even, but I can't exactly say I hold it against her either. Bolin's the same, he didn't agree with it, but he took one look at Korra and of course he couldn't say no. This is probably going to seem like a stupid question, and I'm pretty sure I already know the answer, but has Korra ever asked you to do anything for her? Something you would normally never agree to do for _anyone_ else?"

Mako blinked, and an image of Korra, standing in front of the Southern Spirit Portal, begging him to keep Unalaq from re-entering the portal after her, appeared in his minds eye. "Yes," he murmured, much to Asami's surprise. "Yes, she has."

"And did you say yes?" Mako nodded. "So you understand where we're coming from. She's completely impossible to say no to. No matter how much you want to."

Yeah. He definitely understood where they were coming from.

"She seems happy." Mako said after a moment of contemplation. "I mean. From what little I've actually seen of her…despite that both times she was completely miserable when she laid eyes on me."

"I think you just surprised her. She kind of grabs onto any snippets of news I have about you. I mean, she tries to act like she's not interested, but she can't fool me. She loves when I bring stories about you, no matter how small they are. Honestly, I think she just likes hearing your name."

Considering the way Korra had been around him each time they'd met, Mako couldn't help but doubt that. "Koda hates me. He calls me 'that mean guy'."

Asami burst out laughing, though Mako wasn't surprised. "He was probably just mad at you for having upset his mother. He's a _very_ protective little boy you know. Give it time; he'll warm to you."

"I don't think Korra's going to give me that kind of time."

"Then make it," Asami insisted. _This_ surprised Mako a bit.

"_You're_ advocating me to try and work my way back into Korra's life?" He demanded, somewhat flabbergasted. "Asami, you hate me."

Asami rolled her eyes. "I don't hate you Mako. And besides, shouldn't the fact that Korra loves you be more important than what I think of you? She'd love to have you back in her life, even if she won't admit it. As happy as she is now…she knows something is missing. And that something, is you."

"Wouldn't that something be Koda's mysterious unknown father?" Mako asked, surprising himself when he heard the bitterness behind his words. Asami smirked, not having missed the changed in his tone.

"I don't even know his _name_. He couldn't have been too important to Korra. But _you_ are. And are you really going to allow the fact that she has a son effect the way you feel about her? You've always loved kids anyway."

As if that were even possible. Asami raised an eyebrow at him, her smirk widening. This man was easier to play than a piano.

If she had _her_ way, Mako and Korra would be back together by the end of the month.

And maybe then, the mystery surrounding Koda's parentage would be _revealed_…


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

* * *

_"__Whoa, whoa, whoa!"_

_Crash!_

Bolin and Korra whirled around as the sound of a loud _crash_ emanated from the stores back room. "Oh man…" Bolin whined as Korra ran out to the back room.

"Koda?"

A small chocolate haired head poked out through a pile of boxes. Koda's eyes landed on his mother's panic stricken face, as he gave a weak smile. "Um…hi mum." The boy laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"What have I told you about playing around back here?" Korra sighed; making her way to the pile of boxes that Koda was trapped underneath. He poked his arms through the pile, allowing Korra to tuck her hands under his arms and lift him out of the pile, setting him down in front of her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine mum!" Koda assured his mother with a grin. Korra shook her head, leading him back out into the store.

"How many boxes did he manage to knock over this time?" Bolin asked Korra as Koda clambered up onto the counter. Koda giggled, sticking out his tongue when Bolin winked at him.

"Only a couple." He assured Bolin.

"I'll pick them up in a few minutes." Korra promised as she brushed Koda's hair from his face, examining his head critically. She didn't see any cuts or scratches so she was sure that Koda was fine, though a small bruise had begun to form on his forehead, but asides from that he seemed fine.

"Oh boy," a familiar face spoke up as the bell over the door jingled. "How many boxes did he knock over this time?"

"Aunt Asami!" Koda cheered as he leapt off the counter, running over to Asami, who heaved Koda up in her arms and spun him around.

"Been causing trouble again young man?" Asami laughed as she set Koda back on the floor. "Is that another bruise I see?"

"Nah!" Koda laughed.

Bolin chuckled as he watched Asami with Koda. _"She would make a good mother herself, if she ever wanted to…"_

His smile faded as he watched Korra disappear out into the back room to tidy up the mess Koda had created earlier. He looked over to Asami and Koda, who were currently discussing Asami's plans for a new style of MoPeds. He figured they wouldn't notice him leave from behind the counter, so he decided to follow after Korra.

"What's up?"

Korra, who had just about to lift a box up off the floor, placed it back down and looked over her shoulder at Bolin, raising an eyebrow at him as she did. "What do you mean 'what's up'?"

"You know what I mean."

Korra sighed, glancing up at the clock on the wall.

"Don't you have physical therapy today?"

"Yeah…in an hour. Why, you trying to get rid of me Kor?"

"Now Bolin, why would I _ever_ do that?" Bolin snorted at the overly innocent tone behind Korra's words. As if he'd ever belief she was _innocent_. "Now, if you want these boxes picked up stop distracting-"

"Forget the boxes for a minute, Korra. I want to talk to you." Korra sighed again, she was seriously beginning to become agitated with everyone wanting to 'talk' to her these past few days. Turning around she dropped the box she'd had in her hands. "Good girl." Bolin huffed. "So what's been going on with you lately? Seems you've been down the last few days. Where's my normally sparkling Korra gone?"

For the first time that day Korra laughed. "It's nothing for you to worry about, so just forget it Bo."

Right. Like Bolin would _really_ let that one slide. "Come on. I'm your best friend and the 'uncle' of your troublemaker son. If you can't talk to me, then who _can_ you talk to?" Another fit of laughed erupted from Korra's lungs, leaving Bolin pleased with himself. It was such a rare sound…

"You know, if I were you I wouldn't worry so much about me. You'll get wrinkles."

"Oh no! Not my flawless skin!" Bolin rolled his eyes laughing. "But it's lucky you're not me then."

"Come on Bo, you know me. I've just been thinking too much." Korra said as she was finishing up tidying the back room.

"Thinking about Mako?" Korra didn't answer. "Must be really messing you up, seeing him again."

_"__Seen."_ Korra corrected him firmly. "I've _seen_ Mako. I saw him, and now I won't be seeing him again."

"Do you really think that now he knows where you are, he's just going to leave you alone? Yeah…knowing my brother, that's not likely to happen." Bolin pointed out to Korra. Mako had spent the last six years hassling Asami, trying to get her to reveal Korra's location. There was no way that Korra could possibly think that Mako was going to walk away _now_…

"What reason could he possibly have to want to see me again?" Korra asked reasonably. He wanted to know why I left, and now he does. Our lives can go back to normal now."

Bolin snorted. He'd never thought he'd live to see the day that Korra was so damn deep in denial.

* * *

Mako shifted his weight between his feet, taking in a deep breath. To say that he was anxious, would be an understatement. He wasn't sure how Korra would take him popping by the store unannounced…

But all he'd been able to think about all day was getting off work, rushing home to get changed into a more comfortable outfit and going to the store.

He _desperately_ wanted to see Korra.

Korra was leaning against the store counter lazily, doodling on a piece of paper, when Mako walked in. She raised her eyes upon hearing the bell, her gaze hardening when she saw who had entered the store.

"Can I help you?" Mako sighed. He couldn't deny that he hadn't expected that kind of welcome.

"I'm pretty sure I'm beyond help now," he joked with a weak chuckle.

"I honestly don't doubt that." Korra responded, her face conveying no emotion. She sighed as she crumpled up the piece of paper she'd been drawing on, tossing it into the bin.

"So, where's the rest of your little crew?" Mako asked as he looked around. It seemed to him that Korra had been left alone to man the store.

"Bolin had physical therapy, so he went home early. I sent Koda with him. I try to get him out of the store as much as I possibly can, it's not fair that he always has to hang around here."

Mako's eyebrows pulled together into a scowl. There was an almost…_guilty_ tone to Korra's words. "Do you really think he minds?"

Korra looked as though she was seriously considering Mako's question. It was her turn to scowl. "Why did you come here, _Chief_?"

"First of all, can you not call me _Chief_? I get enough of that from everyone else in Republic City, and I'd appreciate it if my oldest friends could still call me by my name. I'm not anything special. I'm still _just_ Mako." Mako stated quietly, somewhat embarrassed at having done so.

"You make it out as though we're going to be seeing a lot more of one another." Mako just smirked. Korra just stared at Mako, disbelief washing over her face. "You're kidding, right?"

"Well, you know, we were _friends_ for five years before you left Republic City. Have you ever considered that maybe I just want that friendship back? Is that so wrong, Korra?"

More staring in disbelief; Clearly Korra wasn't buying into anything Mako was saying. Mako sighed in dejection. How was he supposed to make Korra understand that the last six years without her had been absolute _agony? _That he didn't just _want_ her back in his life, but that he _needed_ her back in it?

"I suppose it's asking too much for you to just give me a chance, right?" Korra was completely dumbfounded now. Mako shook his head, putting into words what he'd been feeling since having spoken with Asami was a lot harder than Asami had made it out to be. "I would have helped too, you know. You could have come to me. I could have helped with finding you a place to live or…or…_something_. You didn't have to hide from me, Korra."

Korra lowered her face, biting her lip, trying to stop her internal anguish spread across her face. "I didn't _ask_ Asami or Bolin for help. I didn't even go to Bolin, Asami did. I didn't want anyone's help, they chose to help me of their own accord."

"But you _told_ Asami. You _gave_ her the option of helping you. I didn't even get _that_ much, Korra." Mako felt like he was coming undone.

"You are the _Chief of Police_ and I'm the _Avatar_. It would hardly have been appropriate."

"We're more than that Korra. We've _always_ been more than just the titles given to us, so don't use that as an excuse now, because _I know_ it's never stopped you from doing anything you wanted to before."

Korra blinked, unable to come up with a rebuttal to Mako's argument.

"It would still have been inappropriate…" she whispered a few moments later.

"Why? Why do you keep refusing to see the simple truth Korra?" Mako demanded, having become more heated as the conversation had continued. _Why? Because maybe Korra was crazy…but the thought of asking the man she was trying to run away_ from_ for help to run away just seemed so…_wrong_._

Mako growled when he didn't receive an answer. "I know that no matter what I say, it's not going to change what's happened. The past is the past and we should focus on the now. So let's talk, shall we?"

"With all due respect, Chie- _Mako_," She corrected herself begrudgingly at the look Mako had given her, "there's nothing to discuss. I have a life that I'm quite content with, and I've no intentions of changing it."

"And I'm not asking you to change," Mako promised. "All I'm asking is for a chance to be a part of it."

Korra struggled to keep her voice steady as she responded, "And what if I'm not ready to give you that chance?" Inside she was battling complete turmoil. This had been the entire damn point of _leaving_ Mako behind…He _complicated_ things too much.

Mako smirked while Korra scowled. He'd won. He wasn't quite sure how, but he'd definitely won.

* * *

"Need help, Uncle Bo?" Koda asked as he watched the man struggling to reach the top shelf of the kitchen cabinet.

"No thanks bud." Last time Koda had climbed onto the kitchen bench, he'd fallen off. The result? An hour-long healing session and one _very_ pissed off Avatar. It had been pure hell working with her for about three months after. This was the first time Korra had trusted him to be alone with Koda since.

Bolin was more than willing to struggle if the alternative was the possibility of repeating _that_ experience.

"Are you sure? I promise not to fall off this time." Bolin just laughed.

"Yeah Koda, I'm sure. Why don't you go and see what Naga and Pabu are up to? I'll have supper ready in about twenty minutes." Give or take, it really depended on how long it took Bolin to find the seal jerky in the overhead cupboard.

"All anyone ever tells me to do is play, play, play…" Koda grumbled as he stormed off outside. Bolin chuckled.

"What a hard life," he murmured to himself as he finally succeeded in grabbing the packet of seal jerky from the top shelf.

* * *

_Bolin was shocked awake as he felt a hand rest itself on his shoulder. Attached to the arm was Asami Sato. "Hey." Bolin groaned as he rubbed his exhausted eyes. Looking from Asami, Bolin redirected his gaze over to the motionless, mocha figure lying in the bed opposite him. "Still unconscious?"_

_"__Yeah…" Asami nodded wearily, also redirecting her gaze to look at her best friend. "I just spoke with Katara. The baby is going all right; you know, for having been born two months early."_

_The panic that had coursed through Bolin when Korra had stumbled into his room at 3AM the previous morning, forcing out through gritted teeth, that her water had broken, was unlike any panic he'd ever experienced. His first though, asides from, 'Oh my Spirits!', was to call for Master Katara, whom he knew was in the local area healing the still wounded from the recent battles with Kuvira and her army. His second thought had been to call Asami. His third had been '_wait, it's way too soon.'

_Seventeen agonizingly long hours later, after Katara had arrived, she finally, _finally_ came to tell Asami and Bolin what had happened. _

_The baby, a precious little boy with chocolate brown hair and caramel coloured skin, had been delivered; eight weeks early. If that wasn't news enough, the fact that Korra had fazed into the Avatar State during the birthing process, leaving her bleeding copious amounts of blood and drained of all energy, frightened both Asami and Bolin beyond words. It was really no wonder that Korra was still unconscious, another six hours following the birth. _

_Asami had disappeared to call each of her factories, feeding them various excuses as to why she'd not arrived for work that day. Asami noticed that Bolin had fallen asleep again while she'd gone._

_A low moan snapped both Asami and Bolin from their weary state. Both turned their heads to where Korra still lay, surprised to see her stirring a little, her lips moving as if she were calling for someone._

_"__Easy there Kor, take it easy," Asami murmured, resting a hand on Korra's shoulder. Korra's face twisted into an agonized expression, Asami moved her hand, resting it instead on Korra's forehead. She was clammy and unnaturally hot, and despite Katara having assured them that this way normal when recovering from being in the Avatar State, it still worried Asami._

_Korra groaned again. Despite how pained it sounded, it was a relief to hear. It was a sign that Korra was still alive._

_"__Korra?"_

_Korra's lips moved again, and this time one word managed to force its way out in despite Korra's obvious struggle to say it; "…Mako…"_

_Bolin wondered if the one, anguish-filled, word broke Asami's heart the way it did his own. "He should be here," Asami whispered, a little resentfully, as she brushed away a strand of Korra's damp hair from her clammy forehead._

_"__We can't blame this on him. He doesn't know."_

_"__I didn't say that I was blaming him. But don't _you_ think he should be here?"_

_Bolin didn't have an answer to that._

* * *

"Mum!" Koda shouted suddenly, effectively breaking Bolin from his reverie. Said man smirked. So she'd caved in and closed the store early. No surprises there. They'd had two customers from when they'd opened at eight that morning to when he'd left for physical therapy at twelve-thirty. When he'd returned at two to pick up Koda, Korra informed him that the store had been dead. Things like bombings had a way of scaring these small town citizens. Bolin guessed it'd probably be about two weeks before business would start to pick up again.

"Hey Koda." Korra was smiling a real 'Korra smile' when she entered the kitchen of Bolin's apartment. She scooped Koda into her arms as he ran up to her, hugging him tightly. Naga and Pabu bounded around the living room. "Were you a good boy for Uncle Bo?"

"Yup!" Koda nodded, giving her a goofy grin. Korra looked over her son's head, her eyes connecting with Bolin's, looking for confirmation to Koda's answer.

"He was fine," Bolin said with a grin on his own face as he made his way from one side of the small kitchen to the other, ruffling Koda's hair when he reached the other side. "Koda is never any trouble."

"You clearly don't know what a little troublemaker he really is."

"Hey!" Korra laughed softly as she pressed her lips to Koda's forehead, being mindful of the bruise that was still there from his earlier accident at the store.

"I see he's still in one piece."

"Oh come on Kor. I learn from my mistakes. I'll never let him climb onto the bench. Again." Korra rolled her eyes, stroking Koda's hair out of his face. "Anyway, I was about to make some supper. You two are welcome to hang around. I'm beginning to think Kai got lost, he's been out since about three…"

"Trying to guilt us into staying so you won't be lonely?"

"Is it working?"

Another eye roll, but Korra was smiling at least. "I'll help you cook. The Spirits only know what disaster you'll cause if left to your own devices."

"Oh ha-ha," Bolin grumbled as he and Korra began to prepare the dinner. "I'll have you know I'm a _fine_ cook, thank you very much."

"Do you _really_ want me to remind you of the rice incident?"

"You swore never to mention that again." Bolin groaned. Korra smirked as she pulled a pot out from under the sink, filling it with water. It was so _easy_ to push Bolin's buttons. She certainly wasn't going to deny that she got a certain kick out of it…

"So how was business today?" Anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

Korra made a noise in the back of her throat. "There was one more customer after you left, a little before five. Trust me Bo, I didn't close early because I'm incapable of handling a few customers on my own."

Bolin laughed as he grabbed some seaweed flakes from the pantry. "Can you grab another pan for me? I'm afraid if I bend down I might not be able to get back up and I certainly don't want to have to rely on _you_ to pull me back up."

"Kai's going to come back eventually, the blockade out of town still hasn't been lifted." Korra said with a slight smirk, rummaging around the cupboard to find a pan for Bolin.

"Oh you're just _full_ of sarcastic comments tonight aren't you Kor?" That worried Bolin a bit. The only time Korra got really sarcastic was when she was on the defensive about something. And there was only one thing -one _person_\- that Korra ever really got defensive about.

"Did Mako come by the store again?"

Korra sighed, bending a slight fire to get the water to boil. "Am I really that easy to read?"

"Only to the people who know you." Bolin admitted. "So…what did he want?" No answer. Bolin decided to pursue a different, admittedly unrelated to the current topic of conversation, route: "Is he really not Koda's father?"

"You and Asami make a great pair, gossiping like old women."

"He told Asami that the last time the two of you were '_together'_ was just before you fought with Zaheer and the Red Lotus," Bolin continued, ignoring Korra's snippy comment. "I don't want to accuse my brother of lying…but I don't believe that was the last time."

"Bolin. If Mako said that was the last time; _that was the last time_." Korra faced Bolin, her tone becoming icy. "And what is it with you and Asami trying to figure out who Koda's father is? It doesn't matter who his father is, he doesn't have anything to do with our lives and that's the way it's going to remain. Koda and I are doing _perfectly_ fine on our own, we don't need anyone else and we _certainly_ don't need his father. I'm sick and tired of having this conversation over and over, so will you please just _let it go?!"_

"Mum…?"

Korra whirled around to see Koda standing in the doorway, his eyes that were so much like her own, filled with fear. And it was no wonder: Korra rarely raised her voice, and when she did, Koda knew it was cause for alarm. She looked again at Bolin who's eyes wouldn't meet her own. "Go back into the living room please," Korra mumbled, staring down at the pot of water, noticing it had boiled over.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Go back into the living room. Now. Koda." A moment of silence, followed shortly afterwards by the sound of tiny footsteps as they made their way across the hardwood floors, fading the further away they got. After another minute, Korra raised her turquoise eyes to look at Bolin who was regarding her with worry. "I'm sorry Bo. I didn't mean to lose my temper like that."

"This Mako situation is really getting under your skin, isn't it?" Korra bit her lip, looking away.

"He wants to be back in my life," she revealed to Bolin a moment later. "He doesn't understand why I never turned to him for help, and I don't know how to explain _why_ that is without hurting him further… And if he plans to be around from now on, he's going to want answers to things that I just can't give to him."

"Why can't you give them to him?"

Korra was silent.

* * *

I don't want people to think that Bolin was being bitter towards Koda when he said 'What a tough life' but just remember that when he was Koda's age he'd just lost both his parents and he and Mako were forced out onto the streets. Neither of them would have had time for play so I think he feels a little robbed of any chance at a relatively normal childhood like what Koda had. That's all peeps!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

* * *

_She watched with dull eyes as a woman cried over the inert form of a little girl, no older than six years old. Though it was obvious the child had met her end from being crushed by a boulder, Korra could at least take comfort in the fact that she hadn't been the one who had robbed the little girl of her life. She'd been trying to save it._

_This was of little comfort to Korra, who was snapped out of her reverie when the child's mother met with the same end, a boulder crushing her moments later. Korra wondered if Kuvira had done the woman a favour in putting the woman out of her misery. Her daughter was dead after all, probably along with the rest of her family. Would this woman have _welcomed_ her death?_

_Because the Spirits knew at this point, Korra certainly would. _

_There was too much pain in this world, and Korra felt that she could never eradicate it, no matter she did. It made Korra physically sick as she watched the woman slump over her child, her body unrecognizable._

Korra bolted up in bed, her eyes flying open. At some point during the night, her blanket had tangled around her legs; sweat now causing her pajamas and strands of hair to cling to her skin. She pulled in a few gasping breaths, attempting to force her heart to stop pounding in her ears. It didn't work of course.

After a minute of struggling to regain her composure, Korra managed to disentangle herself from her bed covers and stumble out of bed. Her legs shook violently when she placed her weight on them, and for a moment she was afraid she was going to collapse in a heap on the floor. She did however have the strength to keep herself upright, and make her way slowly to the bathroom.

She found a face washer in the bathroom vanity and wet it with some water from the tap, wringing it out before running it over her sweaty face. She hadn't bothered to turn on the light, not wanting to see her reflection at that moment.

When Korra felt she had herself more or less under control, her breathing having returned to normal and her legs no longer shaking, she tossed the face washer into the laundry basket and stepped out of the bathroom. She figured she wouldn't be getting much more sleep tonight, so she choose not to go back to bed only to lay there for hours on end. Instead Korra made her way down the hall, gently pushing the door to Koda's room open. The white wash light of the full moon in the sky outside bathed over half the room, giving Korra just enough light to see Koda sprawled out over his bed, his mouth hanging open as he snored lightly, blankets kicked off, one foot resting against Naga, who had her head placed up on the bed. Korra smiled at the sight of it as she crossed the room, kneeling down next to the bed, reaching her hand out and stroking her fingers through Koda's mop of messy hair. He was such a heavy sleeper; not even flinching under his mother's touch.

An image from her earlier nightmare of the dead child flashed before her eyes and she cringed, squeezing her eyes shut and clamping her lips together in an attempt to stifle the sob that threatened to erupt from her lungs. She couldn't begin to imagine being that girls mother, couldn't imagine what she would ever do if it were _Koda_ in place of that little girl.

Korra sighed as she stood again, picking up the blanket that Koda had, in his sleep, kicked onto the floor. She flicked her wrists so the blanket flew over the boy, hovering momentarily before settling down above his small body. Naga lifted her head as the blanket landed atop of her too, her eyes finding Korra, who put a finger to her lips; a silent gesture for Naga to stay quiet. Naga understood, lowering her head back down and instantly falling asleep again. Korra smiled slightly, leaning down to press a kiss against Koda's forehead before exiting the room again, closing the door behind her.

How many times, she wondered as she made her way back to her own room, had she considered killing herself throughout her life? Whatever the number, she knew she hadn't even tried to follow through nearly as many times. There had been one time when Asami had, on an impromptu visit, walked in on Korra about to leap from her apartment balcony. She was pretty sure that Asami's yelling had raised even the dead in Zao Fu. That had been the first time, only a few weeks after the war against Kuvira and her army had come to an end.

The second time had been a few months later, when a very different person had found her out…

* * *

_"__It won't do any good even if you do leap, Korra."_

_Korra jumped, turning to look at Mako, who was standing at her bedroom door, staring at her blankly. Damn it. Hadn't she told him _yesterday_ that she didn't need him to keep checking in on her?_

_"__Chief," Korra mumbled as she stepped off the railing. "I'm sure you have more important things to tend to than coming here to check on me. You really don't have to-"_

_"__Yes I do. I do have to come and check on you, Korra."_

_"…__Thank you."_

_Mako sighed wearily. "Stubborn as always," he muttered as he walked into the room. He hesitated before sitting down on the bed, noticing it hadn't been slept in the night before. "Is this why you were trying to kill yourself? The nightmares still haven't gone away?"_

_Korra shifted her eyes to look at him, surprised that he'd managed to come such a conclusion. "Katara told me. She says that she's done all she can and that it's up to you to save yourself now. We all believe you can get through it Korra. We're here to help you." The whispered confession startled Korra more than anything; she hadn't known Mako had spoken with Katara. _

_"__You really think so?" Korra had been in doubt over her own strength since her and the rest of Team Avatar had returned to Republic City from their efforts in the Earth Kingdom. _

_"__Yeah. I've never thought otherwise." Mako assured Korra. "We still need you Korra, the world still needs you. So don't go killing yourself, okay?"_

_Korra knew then, in that moment, that that is why she'd fallen in love with Mako. He'd never once in all the years they'd been together, made her feel unwanted or unnecessary._

_"__I won't. I promise."_

* * *

_"__How much longer do you think it will be before you can come back?"_ Jinora asked, sounding a little concerned. Kai sighed as he looked out the front window that dominated the better half of the front wall of the store, his eyes met only with an empty street.

"Bolin said they usually keep the blockades up on towns until they deem it completely safe for people to enter or leave. Considering the fact that they don't yet know whether the explosion was an accident or intentional…"

_"__You could be there for a while longer…" _Jinora finished Kai's sentence.

"Pretty much."

_"__Well take care of yourself, all right? We're all waiting for you."_ Kai laughed.

Jinora, how much trouble do you think I'm going to get into hanging around a convenient store with Bolin?"

_"__I'd put nothing past you Kai."_ He could tell by the tone of her voice that she was smiling.

"I miss you Jinora." Kai admitted after a moment.

_"__I miss you too Kai, a lot." _

The sound of the bell over the door jingling drew Kai's attention back to reality. He nodded at Korra and Koda as they walked in.

"All right Jin. I've got to go, I'll call again as soon as anything changes. Let everyone know I say hi!"

"_I will. Bye Kai."_

"Bye!" Kai was smiling as he hung up the phone.

"I heard the door," Bolin as he poked his head out from the back room. "Is it a – oh, it's just you two," His face fell upon seeing Korra and Koda.

"Well hey, if you don't want us around we'll gladly go home…"

"Freeze!" Bolin ordered as Korra started to walk out of the store. Koda was laughing. Korra smirked as she turned around, closing the door behind her.

"I saw a few more places open today, we might actually get some customers today."

"Tell me one of those places was the deli?" Korra nodded. "Oh thank the Spirits, we won't have to _starve_ today…"

"Uncle Bo, I don't think you're starving." Koda informed Bolin seriously. Bolin pretended to look insulted.

"Are you saying I'm fat?"

"Well lord knows you try to avoid physical therapy at all costs. You probably are getting a bit _soft_…"

"I am not _soft_… I am Nuktuk!" Bolin shouted indignantly, flexing his biceps. Koda wasn't the only one laughing now; Kai was cracking up now as well. He loved listening to Bolin and Korra; they bickered like siblings would. It reminded him a bit of him and the other Air Bender kids.

"You know, Asami doesn't generally go for flabby men."

If ever there was a statement could cause Bolin to turn completely red, Korra had just said it. "Like I care what Asami is into!" He shouted a little louder than necessary.

Koda looked baffled. Kai had to bit his lower lip between his teeth in order to stifle his laughter. Once this whole 'bomb' business was cleared up and he was able to go home, he was _definitely_ going to have to come back and visit.

Much to Bolin and Korra's mutual relief, business did manage to pick up, _a little_. By noon they'd had a grand total of about five customers. Which, while admittedly not a lot, was a lot more than they'd had in the last four days combined.

"Good news Korra," Bolin said with a slight grin as the last customer exited the store. "I might be able to pay you this week after all."

"Look at it this way Bolin; if you _don't_ pay me, Koda and I will be living with you again. Does that sound like something you'd want?"

Bolin considered this for a moment. "Would you like a raise?"

Koda, who was helping Kai to restock the shelves, giggled. Turning to Kai he said "Mum and I lived with Uncle Bo and his family here in Ba Sing Se until I was about three. Now we live down the street from him. He says it's a lot like us still living at his house because we're always going over there and stuff."

Kai looked over his shoulder at Bolin and Korra who were now occupied with friendly banter. "I'm sure he doesn't mind."

Koda shrugged his shoulders and then frowned. "Uncle Bo and my mum argue a lot though. Not the kind of arguing you see here, but real arguing, like they're angry at each other." Kai made a face at that. He had yet to hear either of the two raise their voice at the other. But he didn't doubt what Koda was telling him. Knowing Korra, he wouldn't doubt that things could get a little heated sometimes.

"What do they argue about?"

"I don't know," Koda admitted. "I never really hear what they're saying. I just hear the yelling. Sometimes Uncle Bo mentions my dad though."

"Do you know who your dad is?" Kai ventured cautiously, careful not to let Korra over hear him asking. In the five days that had passed since the beginning of his forced stay in Ba Sing Se, Kai had learn one thing; nobody mentioned Koda's father around Korra.

"No. Mum said he had to leave before I was born. But she told me not be mad or hate him for it, because he didn't _want_ to leave, he just didn't have a choice. She told me I should still love him like I would if he _was_ here."

"And… do you?"

Another shrug. "I don't know," Koda repeated his earlier answer. "I don't _know_ him. Mum sometimes tells me about him. She says he was kind and caring towards her, and she promises he would be here if he could…"

"All right, lunchtime!" Bolin announced suddenly, surprising both Kai and Koda and effectively putting an abrupt end to their conversation. The look on Bolin's face told Kai that Bolin had lost whatever mock argument he and Korra had had. "Who wants what?"

"Fire-flake rice!" Koda shouted, jumping up and down. Bolin winced, rubbing his eardrum as he wrote down Koda's order.

"Little louder bud, I don't think they heard you all the way in Zao Fu. What about you Kai? If you're looking for recommendations the seal soup down the road is great-"

"I don't think he asked for your opinion Bolin."

"I don't think anyone ever asked _yours_ either," Bolin shot back grumpily, tilting his head to the side to glare at Korra.

"I'll get whatever you're getting Bo," Kai cut in quickly before Korra could respond.

Bolin scribbled a few more things down onto the piece of paper before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a coin. "Call it in the air, red or blue?"

"Red," Korra said as Bolin flipped the coin. It came back down, landing in Bolin's hand. He cursed.

"Damn it, I didn't want to go…"

"I think you could use the exercise."

"For the last time Korra, I'm _not_ flabby!"

"I'll go." Kai spoke up, drawing Bolin and Korra's attention to him.

"Are you sure Kai, I really don't mind going-"

"I really don't mind." Kai said, chuckling as he picked up the list of orders from the counter. He was still a little cramped from having knelt down restocking shelves all morning. He figured his legs could do with a bit of a stretch.

"All right." Bolin said with a shrug as he pulled some money out of his pocket and handed it to Kai. "Take Koda with you, if the owner of the store knows you're with us he'll give you a discount."

The two of them left. Bolin turned to Korra, his face taking on a mischievous grin. "Are you _expecting_ someone?"

Korra, who had been gazing out the store window, turned to look at Bolin, surprise glinting in her turquoise eyes. "What? No, of course not. Why?"

"Because every time a customer walks in you look like you're excited about something, then frown and look away again." Korra berated herself silently. Damn, was she honestly _that_ easy to read? "Let me take a stab in the dark, you're waiting to see if my brother will grace us with his presence, am I right or am I right?"

It had been two days since Korra had seen Mako. _Not that she was counting or anything_. "Of course not Bolin. Why would I _care_ if he came by or not?"

"Gee…I don't know." Bolin pretended to be deep in thought. "Let's see…Maybe because you're in love with him?"

He didn't receive any reaction out of the Avatar at his latest probe. Korra had become very good at hiding her true feelings over the years. "When are you going to let that go? I am not in love with Mako. I wish you could get that through that annoyingly thick head of yours." She said, as she flicked him on the forehead, making him flinch.

The bell over the door rang suddenly, causing Korra's head to snap around to see a customer walk in. Bolin noted how she struggled not to look disappointed.

_Right. Of course she wasn't waiting for Mako. Why would she?_

* * *

"So what else has your mum told you about your father?" Kai asked Koda as they made their way down the street. He felt free to ask Koda questions without the fear of being heard by Korra. And as it turned out, Koda was all too happy to answer them.

"Not much," Koda said as kicked a rock on the ground. "She doesn't like talking about him. I think the topic makes her sad, so I don't ask much."

Kai smiled sadly. "You…Really love your mother don't you?" He wished he could relate. Koda nodded slowly in response to Kai's question.

"I overheard Aunt Asami and Uncle Bo talking once. They said my mum gave up everything to raise me." That was _definitely_ a conversation he wasn't supposed to hear. "And even when she's sad, she tries really hard not to let it show. It's like she doesn't care about herself."

Kai knew that was just how Korra was. He'd learned, over the years he'd known her, that Korra had been forced to constantly sacrifice her own wants and desires for the sake of the citizens of the world. And she hardly _ever_ thought about her own happiness.

It came as no to surprise to Kai that she would demonstrate the same self-sacrifice with her son. Though as Kai thought about how Tenzin and Pema were towards their children, he realised it must just be a condition that comes with being a parent.

They passed by the blast site, and Kai, upon a quick glance, saw that Mako was there today along with Lin Beifong, Li and a few other familiar faces. "I wonder if they're going to find out what happened soon," Koda said as he looked over to where Kai's gaze was directed.

"I'm sure they will. Come on, you want to say hello to Mako?" Koda nodded. They made their way down the street, stopping at the edge of the yellow 'caution' tape that separated the public from the scene of the explosion.

Beifong was the first to see Kai with Koda. "Kai!" She sounded a bit surprised to see him. Kai smiled as he raised his hand, giving her a quick salute.

"Hello Beifong."

Koda tilted his head at the woman, scowling. "You're the one that came to the store the other day," he recalled aloud. "You called my mother the Avat-"

To everyone's surprise, Mako ducked under the yellow tape, slapping his hand over Koda's mouth, effectively silencing him mid-word. "You know what," Mako said to a bewildered Beifong and Li, "spread the word, we're taking a break for lunch."

The two of them walked off to notify the rest of the team to take a break. "You've got to be careful Koda," Mako mumbled as he knelt down to the boy. "There are a lot of people here who know your mother and I'm sure she'd prefer they didn't know that she is in Ba Sing Se."

"Okay," Koda said quietly as Mako removed his hand from Koda's mouth. "Would it be _bad_ if they found out?"

"Probably not. She just likes her privacy, that's all. She'll be happier if nobody else here knows that she is here." And of course it went without saying that Koda wanted his mother to be happy.

"Right." Koda nodded, his face taking on a determined expression. "I'll be careful."

Mako smiled as he stood up, hesitating for a moment before ruffling the boy's hair. "All right, I have to try to find some food, I'm starving…"

"You want to come to the deli with us?" Koda asked, his face lighting up at the idea of Mako joining them. "Kai and I are on our way to get lunch."

Mako looked a bit appeased with Koda's invitation. "Sure…why not?" He looked back at Beifong. "Care to join us, Lin?"

Beifong looked between Mako and the little boy. She didn't even have to think before giving her answer: "No that's fine thank you. I'll go with Li and the rest of the team. Thank you though, really."

Mako nodded, turning back to Koda. "All right. Lead the way."

Koda was smiling as the trio made their way towards the deli. "Hey Mako?" Koda asked they were walking, "How do you, Uncle Bo, Aunt Asami and my mum know each other?"

The question caught Mako off-guard. He wasn't sure of the best way to answer so he went with "We met a long time ago, before you were born. Your 'Uncle' Bolin is my brother, and the two of us played Pro-bending together when we met your mother. As for your 'Aunt' Asami, her father sponsored our team at one stage in time, so that's how we all came to know her. We were all very good friends for many years."

"So, you're a bender?" Mako nodded. "I have a friend at school whose mum used to play pro-bending too…What kind of bender are you?"

"I'm a fire bender." Mako answered Koda, a little baffled at how curious he was.

"Really…? So am I!" Koda shouted.

Mako, for the third time that week, stopped mid-stride. He whirled around to stare at the boy before him, shock colouring his facial features. "What did you just say Koda…?"

"I'm a fire bender, like you. Isn't that cool?" Koda shoved his tiny hands into the pockets of his shorts, grinning up at Mako and Kai, both of whom were staring down at the little boy.

"Does your mother know about this Koda?" Kai finally spoke up, Mako still standing there stunned into silence.

"No…I only discovered I could do it last week. And with everything that's happened around town lately I just haven't had a chance to show her. Do _you_ guys want to see what I can do?" Koda asked, getting excited at the thought of showing a fellow fire bender what he'd already learnt, in the short time he'd been aware of his bending abilities.

"Go ahead Koda." Kai encouraged the young boy, pretty sure he wouldn't be up to the level of producing any flames of considerable power.

Koda spread his legs, taking up what was very clearly a fire benders stance. _Where did he learn to stand like that?_ Mako thought to himself as he watched the boy in amazement. Koda shot some small puffs of flames from his tiny clenched fists, twirling around and kicking equally small puffs of flame from the soles of his feet. Koda's flames extinguished when mid turn, Mako grabbed onto his shoulders, saving the boy from tumbling into a near by gutter.

"Wow." Mako was very impressed with the young boys skills. "That's really…wow Koda. You're really good. Did your friend's mother teach you that?"

Koda shook his head. "Nope. She only taught me how to stand properly when bending, but I learnt everything else on my own."

That didn't surprise Mako. From what he knew of the young boy, he could tell that he was an incredibly intuitive and bright child, though it also did escape him that the boy had Korra as a mother; No doubt he'd inherited a little of his talent in bending from her.

"I'll let you in on a little secret; her favourite element is fire. You should tell your mother that you're able to bend fire Koda. She'll be proud." Mako assured Koda as he nodded to Kai, who grinned at Koda.

"You sure? She won't be mad?" Koda asked, looking up into Mako's amber eyes. Mako's heart always skipped a beat when he saw those eyes.

"I'm sure Koda. Now let's get going, I'm sure Bolin is starving."

* * *

"Jeez, we were beginning to think you'd gotten lost," Bolin quipped as, nearly half an hour after they'd left, Kai and Koda _finally_ returned. Korra came out of the back room, smiling when she laid her eyes on Kai and Koda.

"Guess what, guess what?!" Koda piped up as he ran around the counter, coming to a halt in front of his mother. "We saw Mako!"

"Oh really?" Korra's smile faltered a little.

"Yup, and I showed him and Kai that I can fire bend-" Koda cut himself off abruptly, realising what he'd just said.

"Koda, what did you just say?" Korra asked her son, not having missed what he'd said despite his nonstop ramblings.

Koda looked down at his feet, scuffing them along the floor. "Promise me you won't get mad?"

Korra quirked an eyebrow at her son. "I promise not to get mad Koda. Now look at me when you're talking to me please." She said gently, taking a hand to lift up the boys chin.

Koda looked into the eyes that mirrored his own, seeing the kindness behind his mothers eyes. He took a moment before revealing; "I can fire bend."

It was Korra's turn to feel as though she'd been electrocuted with an Equalist glove. A thousand and one thoughts and questions ran through her mind, all within the space of a couple of seconds. There was an audible gasp from Bolin followed by him coming out from behind the counter, running over to Koda and lifting high into the air, congratulating him on his newly found abilities. Korra looked at the scene, still trying to comprehend what Koda had just told her. After Bolin had placed him back on the ground, Koda made his way to where Korra stood, rooted in place.

"You sure you're not mad at me mum?" Koda asked, his voice unsteady.

Korra shook her head, taking it upon herself to lift him up into a tight hug. "No Koda. All I am is _proud_."

Koda nuzzled his face into the crook of his mother's neck; _Mako had been right. His mother _was_ proud._


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

* * *

"Isn't there usually a child hanging around here too?"

Korra looked up from the letter she'd been occupied in reading, surprised (though not really) when she saw Mako standing at the counter. "Don't you have a job to be doing?" She asked as she set the letter aside.

"Come on Kor, you've known him long enough to know he'd put you before his job."

Mako rolled his eyes at Bolin who was smirking, before turning back to Korra. "It's my day off. I am entitled to them, as is everyone else."

"Like you need any excuse to come by here." Korra rolled her eyes this time, smirking at the look on Mako's face. Before Mako could respond, the door behind Bolin and Korra swung open, Kai walking out as it did, the top of his head barely visible above the box he was carrying.

"Take a left Kai." Bolin shouted out. "You're about to walk into the counter."

"They're exploiting even you now Kai?" Mako asked, a little amused.

"Oh, hey Chief." Kai's voice was a little muffled behind the boxes. "Well, I'm stuck here. Figured I may as well do _something_. Beats sitting around doing nothing, right?"

"Besides, I'm not exploiting him. Kai's simply working off the debt for staying at my place." Bolin added with a grin.

"So if he stopped working you'd kick him out?" Korra asked skeptically, earning a shrug from Bolin. "Kai, if ever you do decide you have had enough of working for Bolin you'd be more than welcome to stay with us."

"Yeah because staying with the psycho woman, her psycho polar bear dog and psycho son sounds like a _great_ idea to the sane part of the population."

"Bo, what would _you_ know of the sane part of the population? You're certainly not a part of it."

Bolin gasped.

Mako looked between the two; _Damn_ those two could dish it out to one another, more so than he and Bolin ever had. Kai, who had dropped the boxes he'd been carrying by the shelves at the front of the store, laughed at Mako's bewildered face. "They tend to go at it when they don't have any customers to keep them busy."

"I think the majority of town has gone into hibernation since you and your police force turned up." Bolin grumbled to Mako. "Are you any closer to figuring out the explosion thing?"

"We recovered a few pieces from the scene that we believe may be linked to a similar incident a few years back. We believe it was a homemade bomb." Mako admitted. Normally he wouldn't have disclosed this kind of information, but it was his brother and his oldest friend. The both of them knew police protocol inside out, and neither would go blabbing about what Mako had confided in them.

"So it _was_ a bombing? Not some benders or bandits messing around?"

'That's what we believe."

"Wonderful." Bolin groaned. "You know, we kind of have to rely on sales as to make a living, bro. The longer you guys are around, the more business we're going to lose."

"I know, and I'm really sorry. Even with being the Chief of Police, there's really nothing I can do to speed up the investigation. I know the team is working to the best of their abilities." Mako explained.

"Don't worry about it." Korra interjected before Bolin could carry on whining. "He's just whining because if he can't pay me, I can't pay my bills. Meaning Koda and I would have to go back to living with him again."

"Oh what fun that'd be." Bolin sighed, his tone sarcastic. Korra's response punch him on his upper arm, causing Bolin to let out an 'ow'.

"When's your physical therapy session?"

"You trying that excuse to get rid of me _again,_ Kor?"

"Is it that obvious?"

Mako chuckled lightly to himself. _Oh how he'd missed this; The two of them, mocking one another, tossing insults at one another back and forth._ He knew the two of them had been close before Korra had left Republic City, but it was apparent to Mako that his brother and Korra's relationship extended more than being just friends now; they were practically like he and Bolin had once been. Upon coming to find out that his brother had been the one harboring the Avatar for the past six years, Mako had struggled to be in the same room as Bolin, let alone in the same room as Korra. He didn't know whom out of the two of them he felt more betrayed by.

"So…no one ever answered my question about Koda." He spoke up a few moments later.

"Oh, right…" Apparently Korra had forgotten his question entirely. "He's at a friends house. He's been pestering me for a while if he could go over and visit and today I finally managed to take him."

"Speaking of friends. I heard Li's in town. I'm thinking of seeing if I can catch up with him this evening. You think he'd be up to that Mako?" Bolin piped up suddenly.

Mako turned to face his brother, raising his eyebrows in skepticism. "Um…Ughhh yeah sure. I don't see why not." He turned away again, looking anywhere but at his younger brother.

"Cool. Guess that means you're going to have to fend for yourself tonight Kor."

"I _always_ fend for myself, did you forget I'm the one that does all the cooking at your house."

"That's because you don't trust me around a stove. Spirits only know why…"

"Shall I remind you of the-"

"No, no! I don't care what incident you're talking about, but I sure as heck know I don't want you to remind me about it!" Bolin shouted; his face becoming tinted pink.

"Bolin, if I followed through on even _half_ the promises I made to not mention things again, I'd have very little to talk about."

"Korra, not speaking?" Bolin snapped his fingers. "I'm up for that."

Korra rolled her eyes, looking away from him. "Don't worry, I won't both you and Li on your man-date."

"Our…our…our…" Bolin stuttered a bit, stumbling over his words. "What the hell, it is _not_ a man-date!"

Korra bit down on her bottom lip; Mako could tell she was trying not to laugh. "Come on Bo, there's no shame in it, if you have feelings for someone you shouldn't hide it, even if it _is_ a man."

"You…you're…ah!" Bolin shouted in frustration, pumping his fists into the air. 'Please tell me it's time for me to leave?"

Kai was doubled over, having laughed so much. Mako himself had to admit the conversation had been fairly amusing. Bolin was so agitated he was struggling to tell right from left. Korra was just shaking her head, laughing to herself. "You are the most _aggravating_ woman I have ever met." Bolin growled as he glared at her.

"You're life would be dull if I wasn't in it."

Mako was very pleased with his decision to spend his day off at the store. Bolin and Korra's bickering _was_ very amusing, and on the rare occasion the two of them _weren't_ bickering, he had the opportunity to catch up with Kai, who learnt had been doing extremely will with his air bending training among other things.

* * *

It was around noon when Korra left to go and get lunch. After a bit of a debate it was decided that Mako would go with her. _She_ was the one he wanted to see, after all. It made sense for him to tag along.

"It's still a ghost town," Korra mumbled, more to herself than to Mako. "Bolin's right, until you guys leave it's going to be quiet around here."

"We're doing the best we can." His words weren't defensive, just matter of fact.

"Of course you are. Trust me, I know. This is just the way it is around here, they were wronged too many times in the past and the slightest threat of something big going down scares them. And as you found out the hard way, the Republic City Police Force aren't exactly number one here either…"

"I'm guessing most people aren't aware you're the Avatar? I mean, you have changed a lot since we were younger…" Mako trailed off, Korra shaking her head slowly.

"It's not exactly something I openly advertise. What they don't know won't hurt them- or us. I can't imagine what it would be like for Koda if everyone suddenly found out that the Avatar is living in this part of town. Things are already hard enough for him, he doesn't need _that _added to the pile."

Mako made a face at Korra, surprised. "What do you mean 'things are hard enough for him'? How so?"

Korra turned to face him. "Come on, Mako. Use that clever head of yours, I _know_ you're not just a pretty face," Korra sighed. "I wasn't kidding when I said that if I can't manage to get my bills paid - and that includes what I owe on the apartment, which I'm going to be paying off for the rest of my life – we'll be living with Bolin again. I'm working every day and Koda usually gets dragged along with me, when of course he doesn't have school. Can you imagine being four, five, six years old, spending all day running around a tiny convenience store? I do everything I can to find somewhere else for him to go, but for the most part it's not possible. Asami takes him on her day off sometimes, but I can't ask her to take him on _all_ her days off, I know how rare they are, who wants to spend their only free time watching a six year old? He's been getting a reprieve for the last week because everything's been so dead, but usually he has to get up ridiculously early because I have to be in early…how _fair_ is that?" Before Mako had a chance to respond, Korra was already moving on to her next point. "I've gotten to the point where I've considered sending Koda away to Republic City, to stay with Tenzin and Pema at Air Temple Island, but then I realised that he'd go through exactly what I had at his age; being shipped off to a place he's never been to before, surrounded by people he's never met. I just couldn't do that to him Mako. But to have even considered that… I'm the worst mother ever!"

Mako had heard just about enough.

"Okay, that's it. Korra, are you even listening to what you're saying? You're calling yourself the worst mother in history, but from I've heard and seen myself, you're far from it. Koda worships the very ground you walk on, you're his entire _world_." Korra didn't look completely reassured by this. "You know, the other day when I went to the deli with him and Kai, you're _all_ he talked about the entire time. He went on and on about what a great mother you are, how he always has so much fun with you, and how much he _loves_ hanging out at the store because he doesn't know anyone else who gets to do that and it makes him feel special." Mako chuckled at the memory. He was pleased when Korra managed a weak smile as well. "Your little boy loves you, Korra. He doesn't regret any part of his life. He has all he needs — a life he loves and a mother he's insanely proud of and grateful to have. What more can a boy ask for?"

Mako could tell he'd gotten through to Korra, at least a little. She looked slightly more reassured than she had when they'd begun the conversation. "Mako, I'm sorry if it… if it hurt you to talk about this." Korra said, still facing him. Mako shook his head. "I guess I just don't want him to resent anything later on in life." Korra finally admitted.

"He loves you. What could he _possibly_ come to resent?"

Bolin left the store at about one in the afternoon to go to his weekly physical therapy appointment. Korra ended up closing the store at five. "There's really no point in staying open…"

Kai separated from Korra and Mako as they locked up the store, saying something about going to the edge of town and seeing if the blockade had been lifted, Mako warned him not to get his hopes up.

Mako rocked back and forth on his heels as he watched Korra turn they key in the lock, wondering what he was going to do _now_. It went without saying that he didn't exactly want to separate from Korra — but he couldn't exactly follow her home either. Korra solved that problem for him; "Do you want to come over? I told Koda I'd make fire-flake stew tonight. It's his favourite; just like yours…"

Mako had fond memories of Korra's ire-flake stew. He couldn't help but grin at the thought of it. "If you don't mind feeding me, sure."

Korra smiled softly. "I wouldn't have offered otherwise."

It was a fairly short walk from the store to Korra's apartment. It was quite a cute little place, on the first level meaning it had it's own small courtyard for Naga. The front door opened up into a surprisingly messy living room. Another door led into a hallway that Mako, from his vantage point at the front door, couldn't see down. Another led into the kitchen. Korra took Mako's coat, putting it in the closet next to the front door along with her own, then started down the hallway and into the kitchen.

"Koda should be home soon, so don't expect the quiet to last too long," Korra cracked dryly as she started pulling ingredients out of the fridge and cabinet.

"I figured as much. I couldn't help but notice that your living room's fairly messy, though you never were much of a neat freak." Mako noted as he watched Korra work around the small kitchen.

Korra smiled softly, "You try keeping a house clean with a six year old and a polar bear dog running around." Korra's tone was that of a joking one. "Guess you wouldn't be able to relate though, you've always been a little OCD."

Mako chuckled. "You'd probably cry if you could see my desk now, I can't find _anything_. I can't even find a pen half the time, I have to steal one from Li's desk when he's not around most of time."

"Ohhhh? So even the great Mako falls from grace when I'm not around to pickup after him. I'm going to guess it hasn't been cleaned since I left, right?"

They both laughed, each choosing not to pay mind to the slight twinges they felt when Korra mentioned her abrupt departure from Republic City. Mako ran his hands through his hair, not sure of how to bring up what had been lingering on his mind all day. "Ugh…Korra. There's something… Something I think you should know." Korra turned to face him, resting her hips against the kitchen counter.

"What is it Mako?" She always felt a twinge of worry when Mako spoke the way he was.

"I don't know if _I_ should be the one telling you this but; Koda's a firebender."

Korra hadn't been expecting that one. _How did Mako know…? Unless Koda had told him?_ "Yeah. I know." Korra trailed off.

"Oh… Well, he's really good," Mako murmured as he stuffed his hands into his pant pockets, feeling extremely awkward with the current situation. "Especially considering he hasn't been bending that long…"

"How do _you_ know this, Mako?" Korra was genuinely curious and somewhat surprised at the compliments Mako was giving towards her son.

"Korra… I wasn't exactly honest with you when I said that you were all Koda talked about on the way to the deli the other day. Now don't get mad, but he asked me how you and I met, so of course I told him; that we met when Bolin and I were still Pro-bending players. Koda wanted to know what element I can bend so I told him 'I'm a fire bender'. That's when he told me that he could bend fire too…" Mako's eyes shifted in all directions, waiting for Korra to lose her cool with him.

Korra was quiet for what felt like an eternity to Mako. "He thought I'd be mad that he could bend fire, but truth be told, I'm actually really proud. Of course, _you_ know it's my go to element after all…" Korra said quietly while focusing on getting the fire-flake stew up to the boil.

Mako felt that it would be now or never to ask his next question: "Was his father a fire bender?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "He _was_."

_Was_. Mako noted the use of past tense and wondered if it was because Koda's father was dead, or if Korra was just trying to throw him off.

"Was he someone I knew?" He asked, trying to sound nonchalant. As if Korra would fall for that.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you curiosity killed the bender?"

Mako snorted. He still remembered the first time she'd used that ridiculous line on him.

* * *

_"So what happened to you and Jinora in the Spirit World?" _

_Korra opened up one of her turquoise eyes, narrowing it at the teen sitting on the floor in front of her. "What do you care, Mako?" She asked, a bit more bitterly than what Mako thought was necessary. _

_It _was_ just a question after all. "Whoa Korra, I'm just curious." He threw his hands up in defense of his question._

_She didn't answer, choosing instead to go back to her meditation. Mako looked at Korra intently, then at the closed door to Tenzin's office and then again, back at Korra. "Will you get mad at me if I ask again?" Mako had learned, over the years that had passed since he'd first come to know Korra, that she had a very short fuse, though she masked it well from everyone else, putting off the illusion that she was a responsible, level headed and mature young Avatar. She was a good actress._

_"You shouldn't ask about things so much, Mako. Curiosity killed the bender, you know."_

_Mako gulped. He never could tell with her if she was being sarcastic or serious._

_Korra snickered. "I'm kidding Mako…" She gave him a soft smile._

* * *

"As a matter of fact yes, somebody _did_ tell me that once. A very hot-headed, very stubborn young Southern Water Tribe girl who thought she had to save the world all on her own." Mako momentarily wondered if Korra was going to kill him for that comment. But then she smirked. She knew he was kidding.

"Maybe that girl had a point. You should listen to her, she sounds like she's very smart."

"Yeah…she is," Mako admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "Smartest thing she ever did was going to lead her own life, away from all the problems back in Republic City. I always knew she could do better than staying in that rotten place for the rest of her life."

Korra silently scooped up the cut seal jerky, setting it aside, turning her attention to getting the rice up to the boil. "You know I would have stayed, I promised a lot of people that I would be there when they needed me, but I just…couldn't. Not with Koda. If something had happened to me…"Her voice trailed off, and Mako saw her shudder just a bit. His eyes drifted over the left side of her neck; though her hair currently hid it, he could still imagine the scar that resided there.

Though Mako knew there was no chance of something to _that_ caliber ever happening again, it was still true that being either the Avatar or a member of Republic City Police was a dangerous job, even without the threat of an all out war there was still people that needed saving and crimes that needed busting, both of which came with a risk. Mako couldn't bring himself to resent Korra and her choice in leaving Republic City, though he couldn't say he didn't resent her not telling him where she had gone and why.

His fingers moved of their own accord, pushing her chocolate coloured hair away from her neck and exposing the pale, disturbing scar she had gained many years ago, in what seemed like an entirely different lifetime all together. Mako still had nightmares about the day Korra had fought against Unalaq and Vaatu: Yes, Korra had, since that time, dealt with many more disturbers of the peace and had also dealt with much more severe injuries, but to Mako, being forced to watch helplessly as Korra faded in and out of consciousness, the life slowly draining from her eyes as she had Raava's Spirit pulled from her still living body, was, in his own mind, worse than any other experience of Korra being hurt he'd ever had to witness.

_She stiffened as he began running his fingers along the scar. "Mako…" Her voice trembled as she forced his name out. "Mako…we can't…"_

_Even as she protested she didn't push him away as he ran his lips along the scar that ran along the crook of her neck. His bare chest pressed against hers, the contact of their skin melding them together as he slid inside her…_

Mako's breath caught as he yanked his hand away from her, startled by the sudden onslaught of images. He blinked as his mind brought him back to reality. Korra looked over her shoulder at Mako, confusion alight in her eyes. "Something wrong?"

Mako wanted to convince himself of the fact that he'd probably just imagined it, he couldn't quite place the last time he had had a situation involving The Avatar in his bed, so he was beginning to think he'd conjured most of them up in his mind. But the images that had passed through his mind screamed at him that that had been _real_…

"Nothing. It's nothing, don't worry about it."

Korra made a face as she went back to preparing the evenings meal. She looked over at the pot on the stove; the water was boiling. She measured with a cup what she felt would be enough rice for the three of them: herself, Mako and Koda.

"Mako could you get the pan—"She froze mid-sentence as she turned around and nearly ran into Mako, who had relocated so he was right behind her. All coherent thought ran from her mind. She ducked her head, swallowing hard and trying to ignore the way her face heated up. "S-Sorry—" she started to stutter. Her apology was abruptly cut off as Mako tucked his fingers under her chin, coaxing her head up again so she was facing him. "I've been going out of my mind without you," he murmured, his lips barely moving. Korra had forgotten how to breathe. There was absolutely nothing she could do as his liquid amber eyes bore into her turquoise ones, both of them leaning closer to the other, their lips inches apart…

The sound of the front door opening and Naga barking excitedly broke the spell. Korra used the distraction to her advantage, pulling away from Mako and sliding along the counter so she could walk around him.

"Hi Mum!" Koda piped as he ran into the kitchen. Korra smiled as she knelt down in front of him, resting a hand on his head.

"Hey bud. Did you have fun at Yung's house?"

"Yup!" Koda nodded excitedly, grinning up at his mother. "Yung's mum told me all about pro-bending today! Will you help me with my fire bending later?"

Koda missed it, but Mako saw the look that flashed momentarily across Korra's face. Mako knew she was still getting used to the fact that she had a fire bender for a son.

"How about an actual fire bender helps you instead, Koda?" Mako spoke up, drawing the boy's attention to him. Koda's face lit up.

"Really? You'd do that?" Mako nodded. "_Awesome!_ Can he help me, mum?"

Mako couldn't remember a time when Korra had looked more grateful. "If he doesn't mind, sure. He'd probably be more helpful than me anyway. After all, Mako is probably the best fire bender out there… After Lord Zuko and myself of course." Korra laughed, giving Mako a wink.

"Yay!" Koda jumped up and down happily; Mako was surprised he didn't hit the ceiling. Korra continued to laugh as she stood up. "All right, go and get changed, dinner will be ready in about half an hour."

"'Kay!" Koda was still beaming as he ran out of the kitchen. Mako couldn't help but smile as he watched the boy run out of the room. "He's easy to please." Mako noted.

"Six year olds generally are." Korra smiled.

* * *

There were no words to describe how wonderful the rest of the evening was to Mako. His memories of Korra's stew didn't do the actual food justice; he was pretty sure he'd died and gone to some kind of heaven when he took the first bite. "Mum makes the best stew ever," Koda informed Mako seriously. "Even Uncle Bo admits that it's good, and usually he hates spicy food."

"He's never told me he likes Fire-Flake stew…" Korra gave her son a confused look.

"He said if he ever said it to your face it would go to your head." Korra smirked as she went back to stirring her stew with her spoon. Mako exchanged a look with Koda, and they both laughed. After everyone had cleared their plates, Koda took a bath, then headed out into the small courtyard with Mako to go over his fire bending form. Neither of them noticed Korra leaning against the doorframe, her arms crossed over her chest, a sad smile in place as she watched them.

Asami was surprised when she opened the front door and no polar bear dog or small child ran to greet her. That was the first time in history that this had happened. "Well I know they're home the lights are on," Asami muttered as she made her way through the living room. She looked down the hallway and saw Korra standing at the door that led outside into the courtyard out back, completely oblivious to the fact that someone had just entered the house.

Asami smirked as she started down the hallway, completely intent on taking advantage of Korra's cluelessness. It wasn't often that she was unaware of her surroundings, after all. It would have been a crime for Asami not to take advantage of this fact. She froze right she was about to shout, _"BOO!"_ when she saw what Korra was watching so intently. Koda and Mako. Together outside, Mako correcting Koda's stance as he attempted to bend fire from his small fists. Koda was grinning widely as he listened to Mako explain the different stances and positions that were most common to a fire bender, and even Mako was smiling a bit. He looked as if he were enjoying himself.

He looked like a father.

* * *

I am so so so SO sorry that it has taken me such a long while to upload a new chapter. I've been quite ill the past few days and I'd been unable to muster up the energy to finish off the chapter prior to becoming ill… This chapter presented quite a challenge to write anyway so I would appreciate it greatly if you could review! Thanks!


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

* * *

"You know, Koda really likes you."

Mako looked up from the investigation report he'd been reading and saw Asami standing over him. "Really? Because last time I checked, he hated me."

"That boy isn't capable of hating anyone, it isn't in his blood," Asami said as she sat down opposite Mako. "He didn't like it when you upset his mother. But I think he's gotten over that. I saw you guys last night, you know, it looked like he was having a lot of fun with you. And I get the feeling _you_ were having a lot of fun too." Mako felt his face redden a bit and quickly looked down at the papers before him. Asami couldn't help but laugh. "I guess good feelings are contagious, huh? He was having such a good time that you couldn't help but have a good time too."

"He's a good kid," Mako muttered, running his hand through his hair. "Korra's doing a good job with raising him. Not that I'm surprised. She's good at everything she does."

"I wish _she_ believed that," Asami sighed. "She's constantly worrying about how well she's doing with raising Koda. I think it bothers her that his father isn't around; she knows what it's like to be raised away from the family unit. I think she feels that Koda is missing out on something."

"If you can call what the White Lotus did with Korra as _raising_ her," Mako muttered.

"And you know what, she turned out just fine — _more_ than fine, really. If she can raise herself without a problem, she can raise Koda perfectly."

"Tell her that, not me. You know what she's like with her insecurities, she doesn't believe anything _anyone_ tells her if it puts her in a positive light." Mako frowned, picking up his coffee cup and taking a long, deep sip.

"You know, she might feel a little better if she had someone around to help her raise Koda," Asami suggested slowly. "Someone like a father figure, I mean. I bet she wouldn't say no if you proposed to her."

Mako choked. He set his cup down roughly, spilling a bit of the hot liquid on the table, and coughed, trying to catch his breath. "Wh…wha…_what_?" He finally managed to gasp. Asami was smirking slightly at his reaction. "What the hell Asami, have you lost your mind? Maybe you've forgotten, but I _left_ you for Korra, remember? That kind of makes me a rat bag. Why would _you_ want me to even ask your best friend to marry me? If the thought had ever even crossed my mind, that is." Mako shifted his eyes away, clearly uncomfortable with the current topic of conversation.

"Well, I can't deny that you _were_ kind of a rat bag back then, but I know you've changed since then, we all have, and what_ I_ think of you now isn't important, Mako. Korra loves you, she always has." Asami stated quietly. "You know, she's been a lot happier since you've been around here." Mako didn't know what to say to that, so he simply just nodded. "Here," Asami reached into her coat pocket, pulling out a small, rectangular photograph. "I've got something for you." She held the photo out to Mako, who took it between his fingers, staring at it with a certain amount of enthrallment. It was a picture of Korra and Koda, the boy couldn't have been more than three years old Mako noted, standing in front of their apartment. Koda was reaching up, grinning widely, his fingers wrapped tightly around Korra's wrist, her hands resting on his shoulders as she smiled softly. Mako's lips quirked into a smile as well as he stared at the picture. "That was right after they moved in," Asami explained, smiling fondly at the memory. "Bolin and I made them take pictures in every room, we joined in for a few of them too, but I didn't think you'd want a picture with him and I in it," She laughed softly.

"Yeah, thanks for the consideration." Mako smiled softly despite the sarcasm. Asami sighed, shaking her head. Spirits, this man was _so_ in love. It wasn't fair that he was denying himself — and Korra — what could be a wonderful life; _if only the two weren't so damn stubborn._

* * *

"Oh _great_," Korra groaned as she turned her head up to the sky, letting the rain pelt her face. There'd been no rain in the forecast, of course, but who could ever listen to the weathermen, right? "I knew I should have let Kai go instead," she sighed, raising her hands to rub her arms, which were currently bare of any kind of cover. She would never admit that she should have listened to Bolin when he told her to take an umbrella because the sky looked gloomy. Korra being Korra though, she hadn't been able to bring herself to listen to him. _Now_ she was regretting it. "Absolutely wonderful," she sighed again, tightening her grip on the bag of food she'd picked up for lunch and continuing down the street. She wasn't too far away from the store, at least. Maybe she wouldn't get that wet… That theory was completely disproved.

"You look like a drowned otter-rat," Bolin commented as Korra squelched back into the store. She glared at him, tossing the bag of food onto the counter. "Koda, go and get your mother a towel from the back."

"'Kay." Koda hopped off the counter and ran into the back room.

"The food didn't get wet, did it?" Bolin asked as he opened the bag, peaking inside. Korra responded by flicking him in the forehead.

"Here you go mum," Koda chirped as he ran back out front, handing his mother a towel. Korra smiled, ruffling Koda's head of hair.

"Thanks bud." She raised the towel up to her head, rubbing her hair dry.

"Well it looks like the food survived at least…"

"Bolin, do you _ever_ not think with your stomach?" Korra demanded, moving the towel away from her face. Bolin just smirked, pulling his lunch out of the bag and unwrapping it.

"What else would I think with? You're always claiming I don't have a brain, after all."

"And I maintain that fact," Korra stated with a smirk as she ran the towel along her arms, wiping the water away and raising goose bumps. She shivered. Bolin chuckled.

"Take the umbrella that's in the back room, go home, and change," he suggested through a mouthful of noodles. "I'm sure we're not about to be overwhelmed by business or anything, we can live without you for a few more minutes."

"No, it's fine. I'll live, it's just a little bit of water." Korra said as she bent the remainder of water out of her hair.

"Korra, you look like you were standing in your shower, with all your clothes on."

"You should go change," Koda piped up. "You're going to get sick."

"Thanks mini Bolin." Korra smiled softly as she patted her son's head.

"I'd take that as a compliment if I were you, buddy."

Along with the rain came the death of any chance they might've had for getting customers that afternoon. Korra leaned against the counter, every now and again suppressing a shiver that her damp clothes brought to life, staring at the door as if _that_ would somehow bring a customer into the store. Bolin, from his spot on the other side of the counter, sighed, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the counter, putting his chin on his palms. "So…Asami told me Mako was over your house last night."

"You and Asami really _do_ gossip like old women." Korra rolled her eyes before redirecting her gaze towards the door that led to the back room; the only thing separating Kai and Koda from what was surely going to be a personal conversation. "Spirits, don't you two have _anything_ better to do with your time than talk about _my_ life?"

"When you're the only thing that connects the two of us, no, we don't."

"Yeah, the fact that you're both madly in love with each other doesn't have _anything_ to do with the fact that you're constantly talking, right?"

Bolin turned beet red, stuttering a few times as he tried to articulate his words. "What…no…I mean…we're not talking about _me_!" He finally managed to choke out. Korra smirked. She _loved_ making him squirm.

"Maybe we should be, it sounds like you've got a far more interesting story going on in your life than I do."

"Don't change the subject," Bolin said, a bit harsher than necessary. "Koda seems to like Mako quite a bit, you know, maybe you _should_ give it a chance. You never know what might happen."

"Koda has spent all of maybe ten hours with Mako. They barely know each other. How can _you_ say that Koda likes him?"

Before Korra could say anything more, the bell over the door rang, and two brown haired heads snapped around hopefully. Their faces fell almost instantly. "Gee, that's probably the worst reaction I've ever gotten when I walked into a room," Mako joked as he let the door close behind him.

"Are you going to buy anything?" Bolin asked. Holding on to a kind of false hope, Korra assumed.

"Sorry, I'm poor."

"Of course," Bolin sighed, running a hand through his hair. "At the rate we're going, we'll be shutting down the store by the end of the week, you know. This bomb might as well have blown up _our_ store for all the good we're doing here."

"Yeah, but you know we'd all miss your bright and smiling face, Bo." Korra said.

Bolin glared at Korra, easily recognising the not-so-hidden sarcasm in her voice. Before he could retaliate though, the door leading out back swung open. "Mako!" Koda cheered as his eyes landed on said man. Korra wasn't sure what was more confusing; the fact that her heart seemed to soar as Koda bolted around the corner, running to Mako and wrapping his arms around his waist, or the fact that at the same time her heart seemed to sink at the sight. Bolin just gave her a look that clearly said, '_I told you so'_.

"Hey Koda." Mako was smiling as he knelt down so he was face to face with the chocolate haired boy. "What've you been up to today?"

"Kai has been helping me with my bending."

"I don't know much about helping, Air bending doesn't really transfer well to fire bending" Kai chuckled as he came out of the back as well. "It seems Koda had a very good teacher helping him last night, I think, I mostly watched today."

"Oh yeah?" Mako redirected his gaze to Koda, who nodded eagerly.

"Yeah, yeah! Come see what I can do now!" With that, Koda grabbed Mako's hand, dragging him forward with the strength only a six year old could possess. Mako stumbled a bit as Koda pulled him along, laughing the entire time. Korra felt weirdly helpless as she watched Koda and Mako disappear out back.

"You scared?" Korra redirected her gaze to Bolin, who was watching her with some amount of concern

"Of course not. What would I possibly be scared of?" Bolin didn't answer.

* * *

Korra wasn't quite sure how it had happened. Everything had been going normally, for the most part, everyone had been happy, more or less, and then Koda had uttered those fated words. "_Hey Mako, do you want to come over_?" Bolin had bitten his lip to keep from laughing as Korra had struggled to keep her face from falling. No matter how happy Koda seemed to be with spending time with Mako, she hadn't expected him to turn around and invite him over the house. _Again_. After the fiasco in the kitchen the night before, Korra hadn't really planned on inviting Mako over. Ever again. But of course, it had been _Koda_ who had done so. He'd looked so eager. And Korra had absolutely no heart to say no to anything her son instead — especially when he turned on his bright-eyed puppy-dog look. The boy had a gift for manipulating people. Another annoying trait that Korra had passed on to the boy. She was beginning to regret just how much he was turning out like her.

And _that_ was how Korra ended up in the kitchen, feeling ridiculously like a prisoner in her own home as she tried very hard to ignore the deep lilts of Mako's voice as he and Koda talked about something bending-related. Instead she tried to focus on the ingredients in front of her that were in need of preparing. If only water tribe noodles was a more difficult meal to make. Korra could have really used a distraction at that moment.

As if by some miracle, the phone began to ring_._ Korra didn't even bother moving as it rang; She knew Koda would get it, he loved answering the phone. And sure enough: "Hello? Oh hello Aunt Asami! Guess what? Mako came over again, and he's helping me with my bending, and — oh, okay. Mum, Aunt Asami wants to talk to you!"

Korra sighed as she set the knife down and went into the living room, taking the phone from Koda. "Thanks bud," she mumbled as she raised the phone to her ear. "What is it Asami?"

"_Mako's there _again?" Asami demanded, ignoring Korra's question completely.

"It wasn't my idea," Korra argued quietly as she turned away from Koda and Mako, who were already engulfed once again in their conversation. "Koda wanted him to come over, I couldn't say no…you know what he's like when he wants something."

_"__I'm not holding it against you,"_ Asami laughed. "_I think it's cute that the two of them are getting along so well. He'd make a good father, don't you think?"_

"Asami, Mako is a lot of things, but I highly doubt father material is one of them," Korra said, rolling her eyes. "He's the Chief of Police, hardly a position giving of family time."

_"__Ever since Mako stepped in as Chief, he's really revolutionized the Police Force. He makes sure that his subordinates get to spend as much time with their families as possible... I think he really appreciates the importance of spending time with family. Maybe he's pining over a certain chocolate haired person?"_

"I highly doubt Bolin's absence from his life is causing him to grow soft."

Asami made an impatient noise in the back of her throat. "_You know what I mean Riza, there's no way you're _that_ dense."_

"You don't know what you're talking about Asami. Is this the only reason you wanted to call, because I have to finish preparing dinner—"

_"__Aren't you just the domestic Goddess?"_ Asami chuckled. "_Actually I finally managed to rope myself a day off for Thursday, I was wondering if you wanted me to take Koda off your hands, I thought I'd take him down town, do a little shopping_…"

"Would you?" Gratefulness rang loudly in Korra's tone. "That'd be great, are you sure you don't mind?"

_"Of course, you know I love spending time with him. I'll pick him up about eight; we'll make a whole day out of it. Sound good?"_

"Wonderful. Thank you so much Asami."

_"__Anytime. I have to go, I'll talk to you later, pass on my regards to Mako for me."_

Korra growled as she slammed down the phone.

"Wow, last time I saw someone slam a phone down like that it was me hanging up on King Wu," Mako observed with a chuckle. "What did Asami have to say?"

"Nothing really. Hey Koda, how do you feel about spending Thursday with your aunt?"

_"Yeah!"_ Koda cheered, pumping his arms. He looked positively thrilled at the prospect. Korra's lips quirked into a soft smile. As Asami would put it, at least _one_ member of the male population didn't detest her. If only she'd open her eyes and see Bolin…

Mako chuckled as he and Koda once again returned to their conversation on bending. Well Koda more than him. The boy really didn't need much help. And that left Mako with plenty of time for his thoughts, which were, ironically, focused on something his former lover had said to him earlier. '_I bet she wouldn't say no if you proposed to her._'

It wasn't that the idea of being able to call Korra his wife didn't appeal to him on so many levels. He'd long come to the conclusion that he was in love with Korra, and her sudden reappearance in his life had done nothing, if not completely reinforce that fact. Absence didn't just make the heart grow fonder; it made it long more too. But obviously she didn't feel the same way, as demonstrated by the little boy sitting on the floor next to him. Whoever Koda's father was, there was no way Korra would have just jumped into bed with him unless she felt something _very_ deep for him. And as Mako had come to the conclude, that there was no way Koda's conception had been anything but voluntary, that was the only option he was left with. Whether Koda's father was dead, or had walked out, Korra had been falling, if she hadn't already fallen, in love with him. There was no room left for _Mako_ in her heart. And as much as that hurt to accept, it was a fact he was just going to have to live with. _But you love her_.

If only she felt the same way.

* * *

So quite a short chapter this time round, but I think it's time to get to the nitty gritty of the story. Anyway, as usual please review (positively) and let me know what you thought of the chapter. Thanks as always!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

* * *

"I don't want to go clothes shopping!" Koda whined unhappily as they drove towards the city. Asami sighed. She'd expected that. Which was exactly why she'd waited until he was strapped down in the back seat to mention it.

"You're going back to school next month Koda. You need new clothes and I told your mum I'd take care of it so she wouldn't have to." Asami had had taken care of dressing Koda for as long as she could remember, making him one of if not _the_ most stylish child in Ba Sing Se. She had a feeling Korra secretly enjoyed placing the unwilling boy in the care of her shopaholic best friend. "Just a couple hours of clothes shopping, all right? Then we'll get something to eat and we'll do whatever you want to do."

"No clothes." Koda huffed, crossing his arms, glaring at Asami through the rearview mirror.

Asami tried to smile. "I know you don't like clothes shopping bud. But you just keep growing taller and taller; you're going to need some new clothes or you're going to be going to school naked."

"I don't _need_ new clothes!" Asami thought about the last time she'd seen Koda wear pants instead of shorts. The pants had come up short, ending just a few centimeters above his ankles.

"You're getting new clothes Koda. End of story." Koda huffed again, clearly not happy with the arrangement. _Of all the traits he could have inherited from his mother, he_ had _to gain a loathing of shopping_, Asami sighed silently.

_Brilliant_. Koda's uncooperative attitude persisted throughout the course of the morning. Asami had to practically _drag_ him from store to store. She was continuously forcing him into dressing rooms, ignoring his insistences of "it'll fit Aunt Asami, I don't _have_ to try it on!"

"You know, this would take a lot less time if you'd just go along with it," Asami pointed out, as, over an hour after they'd arrived, they _finally_ left the first store they'd gone into. Koda decided that pouting would be better than actually responding. Asami just shook her head. They stopped at the car to drop off their bags before going into another store. It was afternoon by the time Asami declared the clothes shopping part of the day over, having had just about enough of Koda's constant winging. Koda's uncooperative attitude was set in stone by that stage. Asami had eventually given up on making him try on the clothes, choosing instead to just ask if he liked what she picked out then adding it to the rest of their soon-to-be purchases. If anything was too big or too small, Korra could bring it back. Asami had already gotten the hard part out of the way, after all.

"Are we finished yet?" Koda asked impatiently as they put their bags in the car.

Asami sighed. "Yes Koda, we're _finally_ finished. One year of back to school clothes purchased and ready to be worn. Just another ten to go. Asami couldn't exactly say she was looking forward to that. "Come on, lets go get lunch, then we'll figure out what we're doing for the rest of the afternoon."

"No more clothes," Koda insisted at once.

"No Koda. No more clothes."

* * *

The two of them made their way to the café that Asami sometimes visited during her lunch breaks, when she wasn't required at one of her factories. Quite a lot of people both from her company and from the Republic City Police Force would frequent the place when they had the chance; They had good food, and it was worth it to get out for a bit, considering most people spent their days cramped behind a desk signing papers or sweating over a new MoPed or Sato Mobile.

"Hi Mako!" Asami rolled her eyes, smiling, as Koda flew out of his seat, running over to the man, who had just walked in. She wasn't about to admit to anyone — not even herself — that she'd intentionally come here because she knew that nine out of ten times this was where Mako ended up on _his_ lunch break. Nope. She'd never admit it. Not even under threat of torture.

"…and Aunt Asami made me go _clothes_ shopping today, I _hate_ clothes shopping—"

"As half of Zao Fu is now aware," Asami muttered as Koda hopped back into his seat, still beaming up at Mako, who was smiling back.

"Sounds like you had quite the morning."

"Yup. Hey Mako, do you want to eat with us?" Asami had seen that coming. She resisted the urge to laugh as Mako looked between her and Koda, clearly trying to figure out if that was a good idea. "Oh come on," she finally said, smirking a bit. "Unless you've got some hot lunch date waiting for you…"

Koda suddenly looked concerned. "Do you?" He asked, frowning. No doubt thinking of his mother, and how _she_ would feel if she knew Mako was dating.

"Definitely not," Mako replied quickly. Last thing he needed was to get on Koda's bad side again. He knew the minute he did something to hurt Korra; Koda would go back to hating him. The boy grinned as he scooted over, making room for Mako to sit down as well. Mako couldn't help but smile as he took his seat, and Koda instantly launched into a tangent about how annoying clothes shopping was, especially with his 'Aunt Asami'.

"You know what, next time your mother can take you clothes shopping," Asami grumbled, pretending to be offended. Inside she was laughing. She couldn't imagine Korra trying to shop with Koda. She'd go nuts. It was a sight Asami would pay to see, really.

"Oh!" Koda's eyes lit up suddenly, as if he'd just remembered something. Before Asami or Mako could question it, he reached into the pocket of his shorts, his fingers curling lightly around something as if to not crush it as he pulled his hand out again. "I found this when Kai and I were hanging around the store yesterday, it's for you Mako!"

Mako was completely and utterly shocked when Koda unfolded what was in his had and showed it to Mako, revealing an old 'Fire Ferrets' poster of what Mako recognised as the poster that had been used to promote him and his team including Bolin and Korra during the Pro-Bending Tournament all those years ago.

"I remember you telling me that you, Uncle Bo and my mum used to play Pro-Bending together, and I found this lying around in a box out back and thought you'd like to have it as a way to remember those days… do you like it?" Koda's voice took on a concerned note at the end. Usually this was the part where his mother exclaimed that she loved it and thanked him for being so thoughtful. But Mako was just staring at the faded old poster, his face completely unreadable to Koda.

"I…" Koda's face fell as he realized Mako hated the gift.

"You don't like it, do you?" He mumbled, ducking his head and biting his lip. He'd really wanted Mako to like the poster…

"No!" Mako exclaimed a bit louder than necessary; Koda jumped, surprised. "I mean, I _do_ like it, it's just that I haven't seen this poster in _years_ so I was surprised when you showed it to me…I like it, Koda. Really."

Koda raised his head a bit to look at Mako, his turquoise eyes doubtful. "_Really_?" When Mako nodded, he raised his head the rest of the way, a wide grin spreading out over his face. Before Mako had really processed what was happening, Koda was on his knees and throwing his arms around Mako's neck. Asami felt like an intruder on a private moment as she watched Mako, after a moment of hesitation, wrap his arms around Koda's tiny body, returning the hug. She officially didn't care what Korra said; despite the blonde's her doubts over Mako's parenting ability, he would obviously make a great father. If only Korra wasn't forcing herself to be blind to the fact.

* * *

Are you going to _survive_ to the end of the day?" Bolin asked, concern lacing his voice, as Korra's fourth or fifth coughing fit of the morning slowly faded away.

"I'm _fine_. I've had worse than this many a time before Bolin," Korra mumbled, not daring to raise her voice any more than that. Her throat had been killing her all morning. "Stop bugging me."

"You know, this is from the other day when you got caught in that rainstorm, I _told_ you to go home and change your clothes didn't I?"

"Who are you, my father?" Korra asked in disbelief as she turned around to face Bolin, who was regarding her steadily.

"I'm just saying. _You're_ the one who's always saying you can't afford to get sick. Keeping that in mind it was pretty stupid of you to spend the day in damp clothes, don't you think?"

"Bolin…shut up." Korra shook her pounding head, sighing. The sigh quickly turned into another cough.

"You really _don't_ sound good," Kai said with some amount of concern as he walked into the store. He and Bolin had decided, without consulting their female co-worker, of course, that Korra was in no condition to get lunch that day. Kai had gone in her stead. "Maybe you should go home and get some rest, Koda is with Asami today, isn't he?"

"Yes, he is, and I'm not going home, I'm fine."

"I'm going end up having to call an ambulance to haul your unconscious body out of here, aren't I?"

Korra decided the best course of action was to ignore Bolin's flippant comment, choosing instead to focus on eating her lunch. Not that she got very far; each mouthful burned her throat as she swallowed. She gave up before she'd even gotten a third of the way through. Bolin frowned as he watched her seal the container and put it back in the bag.

"You barely ate anything." He noted a moment later.

"I'm not that hungry. I'll finish it later."

"Promise?"

Korra rolled her eyes. Sometimes Bolin could be very annoying… "Sure, Bo. If it'll make you happy, I _promise _to finish it off later. Okay?"

Bolin ended up forcing Korra out back as the afternoon brought a few more customers. "You look like hell, you'll scare them all way," he informed her as he ordered her into the back room. She wondered if he was just hoping she'd sit down on a box and fall asleep.

Kai was kneeling on the floor, scrubbing the tiles with a sponge when Korra walked into the back room. She raised an eyebrow at him, and he smiled weakly. "Koda and I were practicing our bending yesterday," he admitted sheepishly. "I never cleaned up the slight scorch marks from Koda's flame, I figured Bolin would get mad if he saw all the marks on his floor."

"Honestly, I doubt he'd have even noticed. Bolin isn't exactly known for being 'Mr. Observant'."

Kai chuckled, but went back to his cleaning anyway. Korra smiled and went over to the sink, wetting another sponge and going to kneel beside Kai, helping him scrub the floor. "Oh, Avatar Korra you don't have to—"

"I'm not allowed out front, Bolin thinks I'll scare the customers away. And you can just call me Korra, Kai. Avatar Korra is much too formal." Kai smiled a bit. "So I heard their going to be lifting the blockade soon," Korra said as they cleaned.

"Really?" Kai looked up from the floor, his green eyes lighting up slightly.

Korra nodded without looking up. "They're just about done with the investigation, Asami seems to think they're going to rule it as an accident — and she's getting all her information from Beifong, so I'd say it's trustworthy. They can't find any ties to any bandits or gangs, and I guess Varrick — he owned one of the shops that blew up — had a bad history with playing with explosives and other things of the like. They seem to think he might have been tinkering with some stuff in the back of his store and something…went wrong."

"You guys have some real characters in this town, don't you?"

Korra laughed a bit. "I think Bolin and I might be the most normal people here, quite honestly." Her laughter turned into another coughing fit. Kai's smile faded into a frown as he watched her struggle to regain her breath.

"I suppose if I said I think you should go home, you wouldn't listen, huh?"

Korra just shook her head. "It's a cold Kai. It's not as bad as you and Bolin seem to be making it out to be."

"Maybe it isn't so bad now, but you shouldn't let it get out of hand."

"I appreciate the concern Kai, but really, I'm _fine_."

To say Kai wasn't convinced, would have been an understatement. He could tell this wasn't an argument he was going to win no matter how hard he tried. _Korra really was very stubborn_. So instead he went back to scrubbing the floors, going over in his head the ways that he could possibly go about making the Avatar listen to him. The outlook was pretty bleak though.

Korra started to stand to go and re-wet the sponge she had been scrubbing the floors with. As she pushed herself up of the floor, the ground moved underneath her feet, sending the entire world spinning, leaving her dizzy and light headed. If KI hadn't reacted so quickly, jumping up and grabbing her shoulders to hold her steady, she probably would have been on the floor. She couldn't find it in herself to protest as Kai half-guided, half-pushed her over to a box, forcing her to sit down.

"You were saying?"

"I think you've been hanging around Bolin too much," Korra joked half-heartedly as she rested a hand against her forehead, her elbow on her knee. "You're starting to pick up on his attitude."

"He's just worried about you. And so am I. You're not going to be able to take care of Koda if you collapse, you know. You should go home and get some sleep for a couple of hours, before Asami drops him back home."

Korra just shook her head again, smiling a bit. She appreciated Kai's concern for her, really she did. It was unnecessary though. The problem was convincing _him_ of that fact. She ran a hand through her hair, pulling in a deep breath and cringing when a sharp pain shot through her chest. Damn it she could not let this get to her. It was just a little cold. She needed to stay strong. She'd rest for a few minutes to appease Kai, and then get back to work. Kai went back to cleaning while Korra took a few minutes to recover.

"Kai …can I ask you a question? It's kind of personal."

Kai didn't seem at all put off by the warning. "Yeah sure, go for it."

Korra hesitated for a moment before finally giving voice to her thoughts. "You were young when you became an orphan, weren't you?" Kai looked up from his work, a bit surprised by the question.

"Yeah, I was. I don't really remember much about either of my parents. I can't really say I had much to do with them actually… "

"I know that feeling," Korra mumbled as an involuntary image of her parents standing behind a gated compound flashed through her mind .

Kai tilted his head at Korra, clearly confused. "I was taken away from my parents at the age of four after it was discovered I was the Avatar. I was _raised_ in what the White Lotus conveniently call a 'safe house', though it was more like a prison, until I was seventeen when I went to study with Tenzin on Air Temple Island. For the first time in my life I made friends. The first friends I made were Bolin and-"

"Mako." Korra looked up in surprise at Kai. "That day he went to the deli with Koda and myself, Koda asked the him how long he'd known you and how you two had met, and he told us."

"Of course he did." Korra smiled a bit. "Yeah. My first two friends were Bolin and Mako, shortly after we all came to be friends with Asami too."

"You and Mako, the two of you have been together for a long time, haven't you?"

Korra wasn't sure how to answer that, considering she and Mako hadn't really been _together_ in almost seven years…

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he said quietly. He knew what it was like to have a story he didn't want to reveal to other people. He would never force anyone to talk about their past if it was too painful. Korra sighed, wincing as the sigh turned into another coughing fit. Kai scowled.

"I know, I know, I should go home," Korra said tolerantly, smiling a bit. Kai stared at her, shaking his head and sighing. He knew he wasn't going to win. "Did you miss your parents when they were gone?" She asked, abruptly bringing them back to the original topic of conversation. Kai shrugged.

"I didn't really know them. And in the end, it turns out I didn't do so badly without them. I was lucky enough to be taken in by Tenzin and his family when they discovered I was an Air Bender. I really owe it to them, you know?"

Korra smiled sadly. She'd known Kai had lost his parents at a young age but never had she considered he'd have been younger than Mako and Bolin. It was true what he said though; he'd turned out, _with much guidance from Tenzin_, to be a sensitive and insightful young man. Korra felt genuinely proud of the young man Kai had become.

Korra sighed as she stood up, regretting the action the second she put her weight on her legs as the room began to spin. She thought she heard Kai say something, but his words were lost on her as her knees gave out from beneath her. The last thing she was aware of before her consciousness left her was a pair of arms catching her right before she hit the ground.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

* * *

Bolin looked up as the bell over the door rang Mako walked in. He bit his lip nervously. The absolute _last_ thing he wanted to do was try and explain the events that had transpired just a few hours earlier.

"How's it going Chief?" Bolin tried to smile; it felt more like a grimace. "You know if you're going to hang around here so much, you could make yourself useful and _buy _something, contribute to our pitiful sales."

"Maybe next time Bro. I'm poor, remember?" Bolin snorted. Poor. _Right_. He could afford to ride the train back and forth every day _just_ to see Korra. Mako was anything _but_ poor. "So… is Korra here?"

"Um…no." Bolin sighed. He'd really hoped to be able to go along with a little more banter before he had to get to the serious stuff. "There was an… incident earlier. Korra came down with a cold or something, it really knocked her around. She um…she collapsed in the back room."

Again, Mako felt as if someone had jolted him in the stomach with an Equalist Glove. "_What_?" He didn't _mean_ to shout. It just sort of came out that way. "Is she okay?" He demanded, his head snapping back and forth, as if he expected her to pop out from behind a shelf.

"Well… she was running a fever, and she'd been coughing all morning…think she might've caught that flu that was going around, Koda had it last week, so it certainly wouldn't surprise me. Kai took her home, I told him to stay there to take care of her until Asami came back with Koda. I'm going to look after Koda for the night and Asami will probably end up staying with Korra…" Bolin's voice drifted off as Mako promptly turned around and walked back out onto the street. "Yeah, see ya later Bro," he said with a slight smirk. He already knew where Mako was heading.

* * *

The softness and warmth that engulfed Korra was surprising, though definitely not unwelcome. She pulled in a deep breath, wincing as the breath turned into another fit of coughing. She moaned as the fit died away and tried to focus harder on her surroundings. The comforting fabric that surrounded her felt oddly like her bed; had Kai brought her home? She couldn't believe she'd put him out like that…

"Chief Mako. What are _you_ doing here?"

Korra was shocked when Kai's voice interrupted the silence with Mako's name.

"I went by the store earlier only to have Bolin tell me what had happened, I just…wanted to see if she was okay. Has she been asleep the entire time?"

"Yeah. She must be really exhausted. She's probably going to be mad when she wakes up though, she was fighting Bolin all day about taking off early and getting some rest…"

"That's no surprise. Did Bolin tell you about when she had pneumonia?"

Korra groaned inwardly. She was _never_ going to live that down. Kai must have shaken his head, because Mako proceeded to explain, much to Korra's chagrin. "She came down with a cold, and she doesn't get sick often so when she does, it _really_ hits her. Anyway, it was the evening of the Grand Opening for the new Pro-Bending Arena in Republic City. Of course, being both the Avatar and, by that stage, a pretty well known Pro-Bending player, Korra was invited to attend the Opening Ceremony. Everything seemed fine until half way through the ceremony, she collapsed, landing herself a three day stay in the hospital as a result."

"Oh God." Kai sounded horrified. Which wasn't _anything_ compared to how Korra felt at having to relive that whole, embarrassing experience.

"Yeah. She missed an entire month of council meetings trying to recover, I thought she was going to lose it when she came back and was made aware of the condition much of the Earth Kingdom was in. Mind you we really tried to keep things in order, but it was really hard not having Korra around to giver her opinion on things." Korra smirked a bit at that. "She's a pretty stubborn thing, is the point I'm trying to make. She'll never admit when she's sick and she hates to show weakness."

_I really am _never_ going to live that pneumonia thing down_, Korra thought with a sigh as her body started to drag her back into unconsciousness.

"Why don't you head back to the store?" Mako suggested suddenly, surprising Kai. They'd been in the living room as they'd talked, Mako leaning against the wall near the front door and Kai sitting on the couch. "I'll take care of things here, get a bag packed for Koda when he gets home and take him over to Bolin's, that is if you don't mind."

"Are you sure?" Kai sounded hesitant as he stood, slipping his shoes on.

"Yeah, sure. Definitely. You've never had to deal with a sick Korra; you don't know what she's like. I at least have _some_ experience," Mako said with a chuckle.

Kai laughed as well, running a hand through his hair. "Well I have to concede to experience. If you want I'll swing by later and pick up Koda to bring him over to Bolin's."

"Actually yeah, that'd be great…if you don't mind. Of course last time I checked he and Asami were shopping, so they might not be home until midnight…"

Kai was laughing as he left.

Mako smiled softly as he made his way down the hall, peaking around Korra's half-closed bedroom door, his eyes landing on the still, mocha-skinned figure of the Avatar. She looked surprisingly peaceful in sleep, despite the sallow colour of her skin. Mako sighed as he made his way into the room, taking the face washer that Kai had placed on Korra's head and bringing it into the bathroom to re-wet it. He wrung it out before going back to Korra, placing it back on her forehead. She stirred a little as the damp cloth touched her head, but relaxed again almost instantly.

Mako wasn't quite sure where the impulse came from, but suddenly he was leaning in, pressing his lips lightly against Korra's heated cheek. "_Get well soon_," he whispered before straightening up and backing out of the room again.

* * *

"Hi mum!" Koda shouted as he ran into the apartment, a wide grin on his face. His joy faded to confusion when he saw Mako sitting on the couch, reading a book. Asami's face mirrored his own confusion. "What're you doing here Mako?"

"Come here bud," Mako sighed as he set the book aside and held out his arms. Koda didn't even hesitate as he went over to Mako, jumping into the man's lap. "All right, here's the deal Koda: Your mum came down with a bit of a bug, she's pretty sick." Koda's eyes widened, fear evident in his turquoise depths.

"Is she okay?" He asked, his voice raising an octave.

"She's fine, she's fine," Mako reassured him quickly, trying to alleviate the boy's worries. "She just has the flu, Bolin told me you had it last week too, it's just that. She's going to need to rest for a couple of days though. Kai's going to come over soon and take you back to Bolin's, you're going to spend a few days with them so your mum can rest. Does that sound good?" Koda nodded, though he still looked doubtful. "So hey, guess what? I made seaweed soup for your mum, but she's still asleep and there's plenty left over. So why don't you go pack your bag, and then we'll have some soup before Kai comes. Sound like a plan?"

"Okay." Koda slid off of Mako's lap and headed for his room. Mako watched him until he'd disappeared into his room.

"_That_," Asami said, disrupting Mako's thoughts, "was incredibly impressive. Even_ I_ haven't perfected how to break bad news to him and I've had six years to work on it. How did you do it?" Mako shrugged. He hadn't thought he'd done that great of a job, Koda had still _almost_ freaked out. "Aw well, looks like I'm spending the night here," Asami moved on, stretching her arms over her head. "Koda's next question is going to be if Korra's going to be alone for the night, he won't leave if no one else is here-"

"I already planned on staying," Mako interrupted. Asami blinked, undeniably surprised.

"You…did?" Mako nodded. Asami stared at him for a moment, then smiled. "I should have known…well if you don't want to, I mean, I have clothes here, I've spent a few nights for one reason or another, it won't be putting me out at all."

"I'll stay. I don't mind." Asami chuckled quietly. _Spirits_ was this man in love…

Koda frowned as he peaked around his mother's bedroom door. She was stirring a bit, her eyes fluttering. "Mum?" He whispered, stepping into the room. Korra groaned quietly as she forced her eyes to open, turning her gaze to her nervous-looking son.

"Hey bud," she murmured, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. In the blink of an eye Koda had bolted across the room and jumped onto the bed, throwing his arms around his mother's neck and hugging her tightly. "Wow…did Asami torture you _that_ much today?" She joked quietly as she returned the hug, squeezing him as tightly as her weakened arms would allow.

"Mako said you were sick," he mumbled, burying his face in his mother's shoulder. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Of course I am, Mako shouldn't be scaring you so much. Come on." She tightened her grip on the boy's tiny body, holding him against her chest as she pushed the covers back and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, starting to stand up, groaning when the room started to spin. She sat down a bit harder than necessary, earning a concerned gaze from Koda. Okay, so maybe _that_ hadn't been a great idea…

"Koda, why do you have your backpack?"

"Mako said I'm spending a couple nights at Uncle Bo's so you have time to rest."

"Of course he did." Korra sighed, shaking her head.

"I had a feeling I'd find you in here," an amused voice chuckled. Two pairs of identical turquoise eyes snapped around to see Mako standing in the door to the room, Asami right behind him. The man was holding a tray with two bowls on it in his hands.

"She was already awake," Koda defended himself instantly as Mako crossed the room, setting the tray down on the bedside table.

"I'm not faulting you Koda," he assured the boy as he straightened up, ruffling Koda's hair and smiling before he exited the room. Asami watched him walk away, then gave Korra a look that the chocolate haired woman dutifully ignored.

"Alright bud, let's see what Mako cooked up for us…"

* * *

"Has anyone ever told you you'd make a great father?" Asami asked as she walked into the kitchen, where Mako was serving up a bowl of soup for himself.

"I've been told I'd make a great lot of things, but no, I don't think father was on the list," Mako said distantly. "Want some soup? It's not as bad as you might think, it's my Grandmother's recipe."

"Sure, I spent all afternoon chasing Koda out of toy stores, I could use something good." Asami ceded with a sigh. Mako chuckled as he pulled another bowl out of the cabinet. "Well you certainly seem comfortable enough here."

"I had a long time to get acquainted with the kitchen, I've been here since five. It's almost eight now."

"You know Korra's going to throw a fit about Koda spending a couple days with Bolin right? Her and Koda haven't been separated for more than twelve hours since Koda was born. They're pretty much attached at the hip."

"Well, she needs time to get better. And that's not going to be possible with Koda running under foot, she'll be more worried about taking care of him than taking care of herself."

"_You_ know that and _I_ know that. The question is, does _Korra_ know that?"

"If she wants to fight me on this, then she's about to learn."

* * *

"Mako's a really good cook," Koda said happily as he finished off the rest of his soup. Korra wasn't afraid to admit that what little bit of the soup she'd been able to eat, each mouthful had burned as it had made its way sluggishly down her throat, had been amazing. Definitely a step up from her first experience with Mako's cooking — he'd somehow managed to blow up the stove. That was one of the few times Korra had been truly grateful for a water bender by birth.

"Yeah, he is. We'll have to get him to come over again sometime and make this again."

Koda giggled. Korra smiled a bit before she realised she'd just suggested that they invite Mako over _again_. And have him _cook_ for them.

_The fever must be getting to me_, she groaned silently, resting her hand against her forehead. Before she could contemplate it any further though, Asami came into the room, smiling at the sight that greeted here.

"Koda, Kai is here to take you over to Bolin's place, you ready to go?"

Korra frowned as Koda nodded. Not that she thought Bolin and Kai were incapable of taking care of Koda or anything. But…

"Bye mum," Koda chirped as he hugged Korra goodbye. She smiled softly as she returned the hug. No matter how much she didn't agree with this idea, she could tell she wasn't going to win.

"Be a good boy for Bolin, okay?"

"I will!" Korra resisted the urge to laugh, knowing if she did that she'd start coughing again. Koda enjoyed torturing Bolin almost as much as she did.

"This really isn't necessary," Korra informed Asami as Koda ran out of the room

"Take it up with Bolin and Kai, they're the ones that decided they would take Koda. Not that Mako or myself are disagreeing, you won't rest if you need to take care of Koda. And you _need_ to rest. You don't want a repeat of the pneumonia incident, do you?"

"I am just _never_ going to live that down, am I?"

"Probably not." Asami laughed as she crossed the room and sat down on the bed next to Korra. "Just go with us on this and take it easy, all right? You're not going to be doing anyone any good if you land yourself in the hospital."

Korra sighed, falling back on her pillow and closing her eyes. She needed to change into pajamas, but she was too tired to move. She'd just have to be a good girl and let her friends run her life — no matter how much the idea annoyed her.

And it really _did_ annoy her.

* * *

Mako groaned as he stirred in his restless sleep, his back cramped and in a great amount of pain. Korra's couch had _definitely_ not been made for sleeping on. He sat up, rubbing his eyes and arching up, grimacing at the _crack_ that echoed through the silent room. A quick look at the clock told him that even if he left now, he'd still be late by the time he went home, changed, and got into Head Quarters. And he had a few things he needed to take care of before he left…

Korra inched her eyes open just a little, groaning when the light hit her pupils and instantly snapping her eyelids shut again. Spirits, when had the sun become so bright?

After a few moments she tried again to open her eyes, swallowing painfully as she raised a hand to cover her eyes and sat up, trying to ignore the pain pounding in her head. The bed dipped as something put its weight on the edge, and Korra uncovered her eyes to see Naga at the end of the bed, watching her intently. "Hey girl," she mumbled, coughing a bit to clear her throat. A quick check of her alarm clock revealed two things: it was almost ten o'clock, and there was a tray of food sitting on the bedside table. She blinked a couple of times, staring at the food and wondering where the it had come from. There was a mug of tea, a bowl of fresh fruit, and a note scrawled in familiar penmanship. She picked up the note first, blinking a couple of times when the ink on the page began to run together.

'_Korra, the tea I made you will probably be cold when you get to it. Sorry about that, I didn't want to wake you, but I had to get to work. I'll be back around five-thirty or so, I'm kind of behind on paperwork so it might be a bit later, but not much, promise. See you then. Mako.'_

Korra stared at the note, rolling her eyes a bit at the part about him being behind on his work but smiling nonetheless.

_He spent the night in your house, cooked dinner for you, and prepared breakfast for you before he left for work. And he's going to come back later. He's getting way too comfortable here, and you're getting way too comfortable _with_ him here. Exactly what part of this is good? _Korra's smile faded instantly.

* * *

Asami parked her car in front of her friend's house, smiling faintly. It probably wasn't _necessary_ for her to stop in and check on Korra — no doubt Mako had jumped on the first train as soon as he got out of work and was on his way there at the moment. But Asami wanted to drop in anyway and make sure Korra really had stayed in bed all day like she was supposed to.

Korra was lying in bed, staring at a piece of paper when Asami walked into the room. "What's going on Kor?" The raven-haired woman asked as she crossed the room, sitting down on the edge of the bed. After a moment Korra held out the paper to Asami, who took it and read it quickly. She smiled softly. "Well that's cute."

"It's bad Asami," Korra mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "It's really bad."

"What's so bad about it?" Asami demanded, confused. "You _love_ Mako, don't you? You've missed him in your life, isn't it good that he's back?"

"No!" Korra exclaimed, and then cut herself off, coughing. "It _isn't_ good, Asami," she managed to say when the coughing ceased. "This wasn't supposed to happen. He was never supposed to get involved."

If ever there'd been a statement that made absolutely no sense to Asami, that had been it. "He wasn't supposed to…Korra, what are you talking about?"

Korra pulled in a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment to collect her thoughts. "You need to promise," she whispered finally, eyes still closed. "Promise on the success of Future Industries, Asami, that no matter what happens, you will _never_ tell _anyone_ what I'm about to tell you."

Asami was taken aback by this. "Okay…sure. I won't tell anyone. I swear on Future Industries success if that's what it takes."

"I mean it Asami. You can't run out of here and go down to the store and tell Bolin, or tell anyone else. Promise me."

"I promise Korra!" Asami said loudly. "Come on, you don't have to put me through all of this, I won't tell Bolin, I won't tell Kai, _just_ _tell me_!"

Korra exhaled, opening her eyes again. Asami was surprised to see the torture residing in her turquoise depths. "It was about a month after we returned to Republic City from fighting against Kuvira and her forces in the Earth Kingdom," she began slowly, her voice cracking as she spoke. "About two in the morning, I received a call from Mako asking if he could see me, neither of us had been able to sleep much since we'd arrived back in the City. I agreed to meet with him, after all, I didn't feel there could be any harm in just _seeing_ each other."

Asami nodded silently, almost as if a sign for Korra to continue.

"I met him in Avatar Korra Park, a name I still really wish they'd change by the way, and we chatted on all matters of things. For the first time in a _long_ time, Mako and I were able to catch up on what the both of us had been doing in the three years we'd been apart, without having to hide anything from each other. That was the moment I knew I was irrevocably in love with him." Korra smiled fondly at the memory. "It's like that saying that Katara once mentioned to me; 'The Avatar only falls in love once'. She was right. As it happened, we headed back to his apartment and I knew what I had gotten myself into. I told Mako that we couldn't keep being together, in any sense of the word, that we both had a duty to the citizens of Republic City, he as the Chief of Police and myself as the Avatar. I told Mako that that meeting would be our last. And so, we made love, Mako never once questioning why it was that I'd told him all the things I had. I think he just knew, deep down, that no matter how much either of us loved the other, we just couldn't be together; Not at that time anyway…"

"What are you getting at Korra? Why is it that Mako seems to believe that the last time you two were intimate was just before you battled with Zaheer and the Red Lotus?"

"I used energy bending on him, essentially erasing any memories he'd had of the two of us together. That's why he doesn't remember." Korra whispered, so utterly ashamed at her own actions.

Asami's eyes, which had widened throughout Korra's story, were just about popping out of her head now. She knew, without Korra finishing what she was saying, where her best friend was going with this.

"Mako is Koda's father."

The loud, ringing silence that echoed throughout the room was shattered by a harsh, flat voice.

_"What?"_

Two heads snapped around to the bedroom door. And there was Mako, standing in the door, staring at Korra with a hard, undecipherable look in his liquid amber eyes.

* * *

DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNN. And so, the mystery surrounding Koda's parenting has been revealed. I had quite a lot speculation that Iroh was actually Koda's father, which, while not highly probable, could make sense seeing as Koda IS a fire bender. But come on, I think we all knew that Mako was Koda's father right from the get go. Way to find out though, huh? Korra will definitely have an interesting time trying to redeem herself with Mako now…


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

* * *

Mako…was humming. Mako — _The Chief of Police, Mako_ — was _humming_ as he made his way down the street that would bring him to Korra's apartment. He was in such a good mood that he was actually humming. Spirits, what on Earth was wrong with him?

_'You mean besides the fact you're deliriously in love?'_

Yeah. Besides that.

* * *

Asami's car was parked on the street in front of the apartment. Mako rolled his eyes. He really didn't want to explain to the Sato heiress what he was doing at Korra's apartment so early in the afternoon…but it was a small price to pay to be able to see Korra.

Korra and Asami's voices drifted down the hall from Korra's bedroom. Mako made his way stealthily down the hall, freezing just before he stepped in front of the bedroom door when he heard Korra say_, "About two in the morning, I received a call from Mako asking if he could see me, neither of us had been able to sleep much since we'd arrived back in the City. I agreed to meet with him, after all, I didn't feel there could be any harm in just _seeing_ each other."_ Mako's eyes widened. He really didn't remember that night. He remembered the difficulty he'd had the next morning, not being able to remember much from the week prior, but not the night itself. And he certainly didn't remember Korra having any involvement in it.

_"I met him in Avatar Korra Park, a name I still really wish they'd change by the way, and we chatted on all matters of things. For the first time in a long time, Mako and I were able to catch up on what the both of us had been doing in the three years we'd been apart, without having to hide anything from each other. That was the moment I knew I was irrevocably in love with him. It's like that saying that Katara once mentioned to me; 'The Avatar only falls in love once'. She was right. As it happened, we headed back to his apartment and I knew what I had gotten myself into. I told Mako that we couldn't keep being together, in any sense of the word, that we both had a duty to the citizens of Republic City, he as the Chief of Police and myself as the Avatar. I told Mako that that meeting would be our last. And so, we made love, Mako never once questioning why it was that I'd told him all the things I had. I think he just knew, deep down, that no matter how much either of us loved the other, we just couldn't be together; Not at that time anyway…"_

Mako _really_ didn't need the mental images that were being painted in his head as Korra's voice drifted off into silence. Spirits, _why_ didn't he remember any of that?

Mako could hear Asami ask Korra the same question that begun to form in his own mind.

_"What are you getting at Korra? Why is it that Mako seems to believe that the last time you two were intimate was just before you battled with Zaheer and the Red Lotus?"_

_"I used energy bending on him, essentially erasing any memories he'd had of the two of us together. That's why he doesn't remember."_

_'She used energy bending? On me?'_

Korra's next words drove all coherent thought from his mind except one: "Mako is Koda's father."

Mako felt as if his stomach had lurched down to his feet. _No. Flaming. Way_.

Before Mako was quite aware of what he was doing, he was standing at Korra's bedroom door, staring at the two women and trying to figure out the best thing to say. Only one thing came to mind.

_"What?"_

Korra and Asami's heads snapped around to look at Asami. Asami's eyes were wide — most likely with disbelief. And Korra…she looked as if her worst nightmare was coming true. Mako directed his gaze to Korra, who stared back steadily, despite the fear shining in her eyes.

_"_You're…kidding…right_?"_ Mako finally managed to ask, his voice strangled. Korra ducked her head, dropping her gaze to look at her hands; her fingers were clenched tightly around the blankets. She didn't answer. "Korra?" Still no answer. "Damn it Korra, look at me!"

"Hey!" Asami snapped, standing up from where she'd been sitting on the edge of the bed. "Don't you talk to her like that—!"

"Asami," Korra mumbled, shaking her head, much to her own and Mako's surprise. She pushed back her blankets and stood up, swaying a bit when she was on her feet. She rested a hand on Asami's shoulder, mostly to hold her friend back but also to keep herself steady. "Maybe you should go."

"Forget it, I'm not going anywhere while this rat bag yells at you—"

"Asami. Please," Korra interrupted, her voice taking on a little more strength. "Go."

Asami stared at Korra for a moment, then turned to glare at Mako as she stormed out of the room. They waited, but no sound of a door closing reached their ears. Asami was probably in the living room waiting for the first sign that the fight that was to come was getting out of hand.

Mako returned his gaze to Korra. He could almost _feel_ the fire burning in his liquid amber orbs. "I want answers," he said finally. "Am I truly Koda's father?" It seemed like such a stupid question to ask, considering he'd just _heard_ Korra come out and say it. But he _needed_ to hear her say it to him.

"_Yes_." Her voice was surprisingly steady considering how unstable she looked on her feet. Mako closed his eyes for a moment, giving himself a chance to reprocess the information.

"Why…in the name of the Spirits…didn't you _ever_ tell me?" He was surprised that he managed not to yell, considering how shaken and angry he felt at that moment.

"It was none of your concern."

And that was the straw on the camel's back.

_"None of my concern?"_ He repeated angrily. "It's _none _of my _concern_ that I am the father of six year old boy that, up until a week ago, I knew _nothing_ about and you're telling me that that's '_none of my concern'_?" His voice raised with each word until eventually he was yelling again.

"No." Korra's voice, on the other hand, remained calm and cool. "It had nothing to do with you."

"The_ hell_ it didn't Korra!" Mako snapped. "For the love of the Spirits Korra; _why didn't you tell me_?"

"What was I supposed to say?" Korra demanded, her voice raising just a bit, much to Mako's surprise. "'Oh by the way Mako, a month and a half ago we made love in your apartment and it was the most _amazing_ experience I've ever had with you, but I used energy bending on you, essentially erasing any memory you might have of us being together because _I_ felt we couldn't be together while both of us were on Republic City Council and now I'm pregnant?' Can you imagine how well _that_ would have gone down?"

"A lot better than hearing it _six years_ after the fact while you tell your best friend!" Mako shouted. "I had a right to know!"

"And _I_ had a right to keep you from knowing," Korra shot back coolly. "We're even."

"We're not _even_ until you offer me a god damn _valid_ reason as to why you hid this from me for so long!"

"Do you _really_ want to hear my reasoning?" Korra demanded.

"Yeah, you know what, I _really_ do."

"Be careful what you wish for then." Korra took a deep breath before launching into the list she'd perfected over the years. "I was _afraid_, Mako. I was _afraid_ that when you found out what I had done to you, you'd abandon me and _our_ child, leaving us to fend for ourselves in a world that was cruel and unjust. I was _afraid_ that you wouldn't want anything to do with me and banish me from Republic City just like Raiko had done years before when he didn't approve of my decisions but most of all Mako; I was _afraid _that you wouldn't love me anymore…"

Mako was stunned into a silent reverie.

"Korra. Do you _honestly_ believe that I would have done any of those things? Is that truly the kind of person that you think I am? You can't be serious, Korra. How low of an opinion do you think I have of you?" Mako whispered more to himself than to Korra. "That's not the kind of thing you hide from someone who you've known for almost a decade. I would have stepped up, I would have taken responsibility, I would have done whatever I had to, I wouldn't have just _abandoned_ you with everything, am I _really_ that kind of guy to you?" It kind of hurt, really. He'd always thought that Korra knew him better than anyone — better than his family, better even than himself.

Apparently he'd been wrong.

"I think it's time for you to go," Korra mumbled finally, looking away from Mako. He didn't agree with that — not at all. But she was probably right. If he didn't leave now one of them — most likely him — was going to say something they would regret later. He turned away, clenching and unclenching his fists a couple of times as he left the room. But he wasn't done with this yet. _Not even close_. He didn't notice that there were four pairs of eyes on him as he stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

Koda stared at the door that had flown shut behind Mako, not quite understanding what he had just heard. The adults seemed to have more of a grasp on the situation though.

"Koda," Asami whispered in the boy's ear. "Why don't you go see your mum, something tells me she needs you right now." Koda nodded, slipping off his aunt's lap and heading down the hallway.

"What…the…_flameo _did I just hear?" Bolin finally managed to ask as he and Kai turned to look at Asami, who sighed.

"Sit down boys. It's a _long_ story."

* * *

Koda received quite a shock when he stepped into his mother's room. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, her elbows resting on her knees, her face buried in her hands.

"_Mum_?"

Korra raised her head, surprised to find herself staring into a pair of turquoise eyes. "Koda," she mumbled, dragging the back of her hand across her own eyes, trying to dry the tears that had been falling. "What's up bud?"

Koda didn't answer, choosing instead to cross the room as quickly as his tiny legs would allow. He threw himself into his mother's lap, wrapping his arms around her neck and hugging her tightly. It took Korra a moment to return the hug. "Please don't cry mum," he whispered, burying his face in her neck. "It'll be okay."

"Don't worry about me Koda, I'm fine," Korra murmured, smoothing back the boy's hair. Koda sniffed, rubbing his eyes. He couldn't cry. He had to be strong for his mother. He wasn't allowed to cry.

"Mum? Is Mako really my dad?" Korra swallowed hard, trying to force down the lump that threatened to rise in her throat and dissolve into tears. She couldn't cry. She had to be strong for Koda.

She wasn't allowed to cry.

* * *

Mako pressed his lips together as he watched his men disassemble their equipment. After almost two weeks they'd _finally_ finished their investigation of the explosion and were finally lifting the blockade. Maybe now Bolin would stop complaining about how the police presence was ruining his business.

"Is something wrong, sir?" Lin Beifong asked, raising an eyebrow at her surprisingly solemn superior. Mako hadn't said more than five words all morning. "You've barely said anything since we got here."

"It's nothing, Beifong."

"It's probably hard for him to talk around that foot he shoved in his mouth," Asami spoke up, her voice unsurprisingly bitter. She'd been shooting daggers at Mako since they'd gotten in the car to drive out to town. She wasn't happy with the way Mako had acted last night. At leas that was something they shared in common.

* * *

Koda bit his lip nervously as he made his way down the street. He'd gotten past the hard part, sneaking out of the back of the store when Bolin and Kai had been out the front. Now all he had to do was have confidence in the fact that he remembered where the explosion had happened. With any luck, Mako would be there. And even if he wasn't, maybe there would be someone that would _help_ him find Mako, that man with the equipment he'd met last time had been really nice…

He found the explosion site without a problem. He was pleased to see that Mako _was _indeed there, along with Asami. Oh good.

"Oh…my…_Spirits_." Mako looked back at Asami, who's eyes were wide with shock, then followed the startled woman's gaze. His own eyes almost fell out of his head.

_"Koda!?" _The little boy was standing on the other side of the tape separating the citizens from the investigations team, watching Mako with wide eyes. There was no Kai, Bolin, or Korra in sight. Asami and Mako exchanged startled looks, and both darted over to Koda, ducking under the tape. Mako grabbed Koda's shoulders, dragging him off to the side and away from the crowd while Asami followed.

"Koda what do you think you are doing here?" Mako asked, kneeling down in front of Koda, who promptly looked at the ground.

"Are you mad?" He mumbled, his voice laced with tears. It just about broke Mako's heart to hear it.

"No, Koda, of course not — though I can't exactly say the same for your mother, does she know you're here?"

Koda shook his head slowly. "She's still sick, I was at the store with Uncle Bo and Kai, I snuck out the back 'cause I wanted to find you."

Mako took a minute to process this. "Why did you want to find _me_?"

Koda swallowed hard before answering. "Because I didn't want you to go away again."

Well if Mako's heart hadn't been in a million pieces _before_, it certainly was _now_.

As wrapped up as he was in Koda, he hadn't even noticed that they had acquired an audience in the form of Beifong and Li. Words didn't seem quite adequate at this point. Instead Mako just reached his arms out, wrapping them around Koda's tiny body and pulling the boy against his chest. Koda hiccupped as he buried his face in Mako's coat and started crying.

If ever there'd been a heart-wrenching scene, it was the one right in front of Asami. She turned away, feeling like an intruder on a private moment. "All right, everybody get out of here," she muttered, turning to Mako's subordinates. "We have work we need to be doing, let's go…"

As the others walked away, Asami turned back to Mako. "Bolin's going to be freaking out, you should get him back to the store. We'll take care of things here."

Mako nodded to Asami, who smiled faintly before turning away from the pair — the father and the son.

* * *

"I'm dead. I'm so _freaking_ dead. She's going to kill me. No, more than that. She's going to kill me, then somehow manage to bring me back to life, and freaking kill me again. And then she'll repeat that a few more times until she's satisfied. And whenever she gets the urge she'll bring me back to life and kill me just for the hell of it. I'm going to spend the rest of eternity being brought back to life and killed, over and over and over and over and—"

"Bolin!" Kai finally shouted, trying to cut off the man's ranting. "Just _calm down_, all right? We'll find him."

"I _lost_ Avatar Korra's son, there _is_ no calming down from this!" Bolin yelled, panicked, running a hand through his hair. "Oh Spirits she is going to _murder_ me…"

Kai shook his head, turning away and heading for the door. Listening to Bolin imagine all the wild and crazy things Korra would do to him as retribution for losing Koda wasn't going to get anything accomplished. Before Kai could leave though, the door opened, and much to his and Bolin's great, mutual relieves, Mako walked in with Koda cradled in his arms. "Oh thank the _Spirits_," Bolin moaned when he saw the boy. "Koda what the flameo, where _were_ you?"

Mako shook his head at Bolin, giving him a look that said _'Not the time bro'_, effectively silencing the man. Koda didn't bother to answer. Kai noticed he was clinging to Mako as if his life depended on it.

Mako smiled faintly as he knelt down, carefully setting Koda on the floor. The boy raised his eyes to look at the raven-haired man. "Why don't you hang out here while I go talk to your mother?" He suggested quietly, ruffling Koda's hair. Koda looked doubtful.

"Will you come back when you're done?"

"If I don't, I'll be at your house," Mako promised. "I'm not going anywhere Koda. I promise."

Koda considered this for a moment, and then nodded. Mako smiled softly as he stood up. "And apologize to your uncle, I think you just about scared him to death disappearing the way you did."

With that he left.

Koda smiled sheepishly as he turned to look at Havoc. "Sorry Uncle Bo," he mumbled, running his hand through his mop of hair. Bolin chuckled as he finally realized _why_ that posture looked so familiar. It was the same stance Mako had always taken when he was trying to explain to Korra why his paperwork wasn't done despite the fact he'd had a week to do it.

"I'll let it pass this time Koda," Bolin finally ceded with a sigh. "But I swear to Raava if you _ever_ do _anything_ like this again, you won't have to worry about telling_ me_ so much as you'll have to worry about me telling your _mother_. Imagine _her_ reaction to you wandering around downtown without any adults."

Koda's face morphed into a look of pure horror.

* * *

Korra sighed, staring long and hard at the ceiling. Just as she had been all morning and all of last night after Bolin and Kai had taken Koda and headed back to Bolin's place.

She was right. She _was_ right. She knew she was. There was no way Mako would have been able to handle raising a child. She hadn't gotten to finish her list last night. Not everything on it was terrible. When she'd left, she'd also taken into consideration the fact that Mako was still aspiring to be President someday. A child would have only gotten in the way of that dream. He needed to be focusing on his dreams, without any distraction.

Korra hadn't been about to let herself and a baby be the death of his possible Political career. Not that she _would_ have told Mako any of that, even if she'd had the chance. Last night, all she'd been able to think about was getting him to abandon the argument and walk out of the house. And if insulting him was the only way she was able to do that…then so be it. It was easy for Mako to say, now, that he would have taken responsibility. He hadn't actually _been_ there when the responsibility was necessary. There was no way for him to say for sure what he would have done in the past. But the past is the past, and there was no changing it. They could only move on now. Mako would go back to working towards his goal, Korra and Koda would go back to the quiet life they'd become so fond of, and they would all forget that this whole, ugly mess had ever happened.

They would all be happy again.

Korra only wished she _truly_ believed that. A noise from the bedroom door startled Korra, and her head snapped up to look at…Mako. He was standing there, his eyes solemn, and his face serious.

"We need to talk."

* * *

Things are heating up between Mako and Korra! As usual, let me know what you think of the chapter...~


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

* * *

Korra suddenly felt as if she were incapable of breathing. The very air in her lungs felt as if it had frozen. She hadn't expected to see Mako in her house again. Or in this town. Or in her life for that matter. Or maybe she'd just _hoped_ for all of the above. She wasn't really sure. Her thoughts were a mess.

"I think I handled things quite badly yesterday," Mako said slowly as Korra sat up in her bed, then stood to face him. "Can we…try this over? Please?"

He sounded so completely sincere. Korra almost couldn't believe it. She stared at him for a long time, trying to figure out exactly how she was supposed to respond to that. "Mako…" She finally managed to say, shaking her head a bit. "What happened last night…you finding out…it doesn't have to change anything. You don't have to pretend you want to be involved, if you don't want anything to do with us, you can walk away, it won't matter."

She was surprised when Mako shook his head. "No…I can't."

"You don't have to do this Mako."

"Yes I do."

"Why?" She asked, a little bewildered.

"Because I made a promise to a little boy that I would never leave him or his mother."

"You…saw Koda today?" She whispered, unable to force herself to speak any louder. Mako nodded slowly.

"He decided to take matters into his own hands today and came down to the blast site to see if he could find me."

"He did _what_?" Korra shouted, regretting it when a round of violent coughs overtook her body. The brutal expulsions overwhelmed her, nearly forcing her to her knees. Mako crossed the room in two long strides, catching her before she could fall, looping an arm around her shoulders. He gently guided her back to the bed, letting her lean against him as they sat down. "I can't depend on Bolin for anything," she mumbled as she caught her breath.

"Come on Kor, give my brother a little bit of credit, Koda is a sneaky little bugger." Mako smirked a bit. "I seem to recall being told that a certain young Avatar used to sneak out from Air Temple Island at night to let her Polar Bear Dog run wild through Republic City."

"I was _seventeen_. Koda is _six_. I'm _pretty_ sure there's a difference."

"Between you and Koda? Not really. Maybe no one's told you lately, but the kid's a carbon copy of you, Korra. Today is a perfect example of that. He saw you were upset, he didn't like it, so he did everything in his power to make you feel better without thinking about the fact that he could get in trouble or get hurt."

Korra didn't have an answer to that.

"You shouldn't make a promise you can't keep," she said instead, going back to the original topic that had started this conversation. Mako made a face.

"Well I plan on keeping it." Korra opened her mouth to speak. Mako pressed his finger against her lips, effectively silencing her. "Give me a break Korra. Do you really think I'm just going to walk away from this? I've spent the last _six years_ of my life going over and over again in my head what I could have _possibly_ done to drive you away. I sat in my apartment every night for two weeks straight drinking myself into a stupor and hoping that doing so would _somehow_ bring up a memory I had forgotten that would help me figure out how I had screwed up so badly that _you_ — the one person who had always had faith in me — would walk out of my life. I hassled Asami every other day because I knew _she_ knew where you had gone, and I wanted to know because I wanted to talk to you, to apologize for what I had done; whatever I'd done. You were the only thing I thought about for six years, every minute of every day, non-stop. It killed me, not knowing where you were or why you had left or what I'd done to suddenly make you leave. And then…you were just _there_ again, you came out of nowhere, and you weren't happy I was there, but seeing you again, just like that, it felt like…like I was _alive _again. For six years I went through the motions of my pathetic life, and none of it meant anything because you weren't there. The last week and a half though, seeing you and talking to you and just _being_ with you…it makes the last six years disappear."

Korra felt as if her heart was attempting to beat through her chest. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She would never admit it to anyone, not even herself, but for years she'd dreamed of Mako somehow walking back into her life and saying almost exactly what he was saying to her now. Telling her he needed her in his life; that he wanted to help in any way he could. That he loved her.

Not that he'd said that last part. And he probably wouldn't. But Korra could dream…right?

He wasn't done yet though. "I _want_ to be here for you. I _want_ to be the father that Koda hasn't had. I _want_ to take some of those worries off your shoulders. I can pay off the money you owe on the apartment, I can help you with your bills, I can help you with Koda, and I can do _whatever_ you need me to. I can be _whoever_ you need me to be. So please…_please,_ Korra; don't shut me out of your life. I love you too much. I don't think I could stand losing you again."

Korra's breath escaped in one long, disbelieving huff. No way…there was just _no way _she'd actually heard that. Was the fever causing her to hallucinate? Maybe she was dreaming, because there was just no possible way Mako had been the one to tell her those things.

"Korra?" A finger tucked itself under Korra's chin, coaxing her head up so she was facing him. "You're crying." Too late, Korra realised that there were, in fact, salty streams of water working their way slowly down her face. She gasped, pulling out of Mako's grip and raising her hand up to wipe the tears away from her turquoise orbs. Mako caught her hand before it touched her face though, wrapping his fingers around hers and squeezing them tightly. "You don't have to hide it," he said quietly. "Just…talk to me. Let me in. Please."

She sniffed, turning her head away from him to stare at the floor. "I…don't know," she said finally, her voice trembling violently, making it impossible for her to articulate words. She was surprised when Mako pulled his arm away from her shoulder, choosing instead to snake both arms around her waist and pull her as close to him as he could manage. She rested her head back against his shoulder, closing her eyes and struggling not to let any more tears fall. Mako's next words completely shattered that resolve.

"Just let it all out, Korra. I'm here. Let it out." And that was it. Korra turned in Mako's arms, burying her face in his coat and giving in to the sobs at last. Mako held her tightly as she cried out all the pain and stress and misery she'd put herself through over the last six years. He held her as she cried for all the mistakes she'd made, and all the time she'd lost. And he resolved, in that moment, that he would never see her cry again. The next time he wanted to see her cry, they'd be tears of joy.

That much Mako was certain of.

* * *

Koda bolted through the apartment as soon as Bolin opened the door, allowing him access. It wasn't that he didn't _believe_ Mako would be there. He'd promised after all. But the living room was empty, as was the kitchen, and this worried Koda a bit. Where was Mako?

He poked his head into his mother's room, his panic instantly turning to relief at the sight that greeted him. They were both there, asleep, his mother curled up in Mako's arms, her head resting against his chest. Koda grinned, then started giggling.

"Oh the times you wish you had a camera," Bolin said with a quiet laugh as he came up behind Koda.

"Hang on a sec," the boy chirped, turning and running back to the living room. He yanked open the drawer of the side table, pulling out the camera his mother kept there, running back to Bolin, handing the camera to his uncle.

"You're a legend kiddo," Bolin chuckled as he raised the camera, snapping a picture with a laugh. "Come on, let's get out of here before they catch us. We'll go make dinner."

* * *

A loud scream shattered the peaceful existence that was Korra's state of sleep. She bolted up, confused and disoriented, blinking a bit and wondering why her vision was so fogged up…Wait. It wasn't her vision. "What the _flameo_?" Mako bolted awake at the sound of Korra's panicked voice. He looked around, confused. Why was there smoke in the room? "Son of a…_Bolin_!"

Before Mako could ask any questions, Korra had bolted out of bed and was running out of the room. It took Mako a minute to realise he should follow.

Bolin and Koda were in the living room, coughing, with Korra standing over them, disapproval clear on her face. Smoke billowed around the ceiling around them. "_What happened_?" Mako demanded, looking between the three of them.

"Your _genius_ of a brother decided to try and cook dinner; chicken," Korra snapped, not turning her glare away from Bolin, who was grinning sheepishly. "He seems to have forgotten that you're supposed to add _water_ to the pot as the chicken cooks."

"I said sorry," Bolin spoke around another round of coughs.

"We were just trying to do something nice," Koda added, his voice quiet. Korra sighed as she ruffled his hair.

"Don't worry Koda, I'm not blaming you. Come on, let's get the windows open, try and get some of this smoke out of the house. Bolin, you turned off the stove, right?"

"Of course I turned off the stove," Bolin scoffed, looking insulted that Korra would ask such a thing. As she turned away though, Mako saw Bolin turn tail and walk as fast as he could into the kitchen without being caught by Korra.

It took almost twenty minutes to get the smoke out of the house. "You are _prohibited_ from using my kitchen," Korra informed Bolin harshly. He chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.

"Am I at least still allowed to _eat_ in there?"

"I'll think about it." Korra chiseled the burnt remnants of the chicken out of the pot, filling up the dishpan with water as she did so. When the chicken was out of the pan and in the trash, she through the pan into the soapy hot water, letting it soak so it'd be easier to clean later.

* * *

"So how'd it go?" Bolin asked quietly, looking over at Mako, who was watching Koda with a large amount of interest; the boy was sitting on the floor playing with Naga and Pabu. He seemed much more relaxed now that he knew Mako had, in fact, kept his promise.

"Strangely, she didn't seem too inclined to yell at me. We actually managed to talk, more or less." No need to mention that she'd fallen asleep in his arms, crying the entire time. No doubt Korra wouldn't enjoy Bolin knowing that kind of information.

Havoc hesitated for a moment before asking his next question. "How are you with all this?" He asked finally. Mako bit his lip, still watching Koda intently.

"I…don't know. I mean…how would you feel if _you_ found out after six years that you had a son?" Bolin didn't have an answer to that. "It's insane. I'm not going to lie, I'm mad that she hid it from me for so long. But I can't _stay_ mad at her either, especially not after talking to her earlier. So I'm mad…but what can I say? She made her choice and I can't change the past."

"That's…very mature of you," Bolin said after a moment. He was right, Mako realised after a moment. Considering the way Mako had sometimes reacted to situations in the past, Bolin had grown a new appreciation for his older brother. "You're not going to just walk away from this, are you?" Mako shook his head. "I didn't think so. You'd never do that to her, would you?"

No. He wouldn't. He wasn't capable of it. Even if he _hadn't_ made that promise to Koda…it wasn't in his nature to turn his back on the people he loved. Even if it hadn't escaped his notice that Korra hadn't been quick to return the sentiment when he'd told her he loved her.

A pair of tiny arms wrapped around one of Korra's legs; she jumped and looked down, smiling when she found herself looking into a pair of turquoise eyes. "Got tired of listening to Mako and Uncle Bo talk?" She asked, patting Koda's head. The boy grinned, nodding in answer to his mother's question.

"What's for dinner?"

"Well you and your uncle ruined the big pot, so…how does fire flake stew from Narook's sound?" Koda's eyes widened in excitement.

"_Really_?" Korra nodded. "_All right_!" Koda cheered, jumping up and down. To say he loved his mother's fire flake stew was an understatement, but he could never pass up the chance to eat fire flake stew from Narook's.

Koda disappeared back into the living room, and Korra made her way to the phone, in order to place an order. Her mind wasn't entirely on-task though. Or on-task at all, for that matter. _"… I can do whatever you need me to. I can be whoever you want me to be. So please…please Korra; don't shut me out of your life again. I love you too much. I don't think I could stand losing you again."_

Mako's words played over in her head as she waited for someone on the other end of the line to pick up. Her mind kept going back to three words in particular: _I love you_.

No. There was no way. It wasn't possible. In the six years been apart surely, surely Mako had moved on from their relationship from all those years ago. He was more suited to a woman like Asami. Korra just wasn't his _type_, she wasn't pretty, there was nothing special about her other than her being _'The Avatar'_ which meant she was exceedingly muscly, nothing for a woman to brag about. Korra found herself asking herself; '_What on Earth could Mako see in her'?_

* * *

Dinner was far from a quiet affair, considering Koda was involved, but there wasn't much talking on the part of the adults. Bolin spent most of his time looking between Mako and Korra, who were both staring at their plates.

"Can Mako tuck me in?" Koda asked when it was time for bed. Korra looked a bit surprised, though it was nothing compared to what the statement did to Mako.

"If he wants to," Korra finally said. Koda turned his gaze to Mako, who instantly caved. How in the flameo was he supposed to say 'no' to that look?

"Sure. Let's get you changed into some pajamas and we'll get you tucked in." Koda grinned as he ran down the hall. Mako was chuckling as he followed. Bolin laughed as he turned his gaze to Korra, surprised to see that she was frowning, her eyes on the floor as she dropped onto the couch.

"That's not a good look." He sighed, turning to face Korra fully. "What's going on?"

Korra just shook her head. "Just go home Bo. I've got this under control."

"You haven't had anything under control since Mako walked back into your life," Bolin argued as he turned around and headed towards the door. Korra stared after him; not liking how much truth there was to his words.

* * *

"Hey Mako?" Koda tilted his head up to look at the man standing over him. Mako smiled a bit as he sat down on the bed, an indication for Koda to nestle himself under the covers.

"Yeah bud?"

"Are you going to stay with us?"

Mako hesitated for a moment before answering. He'd already promised not to leave again, but that was completely different. He could a part of Koda's life and not live with them, after all. Korra couldn't _deny_ him the right to see his son, but _seeing_ was all she had to let him do…

"I don't know Koda," he finally admitted, patting the boy's chocolate hair that was so much like his mothers. "I'm going to try, but it's really up to your mother." Koda's face fell. "That doesn't mean I won't still be around," Mako said quickly. "I can still come and visit, and see you at the store, and if you wanted to, maybe you could spend a weekend with me, if it'd be okay with your mum and I don't see why it _wouldn't_ be if you really wanted to…"

"Yeah," Koda said quietly. "But I want us all to live together. I want to us be a family."

Mako wasn't sure how much breaking his heart could take. He sighed, leaning in and pressing his lips lightly against Koda's' forehead before standing up. "We'll have to wait and see what happens." He really hated having to give that kind of answer. It was all he had though.

"Mako?"

The man in question stopped with his hand on the doorknob, looking over his shoulder at Koda, who was sitting up in bed, watching Mako with his wide turquoise eyes. "What is it, Koda?"

Koda fidgeted, as if worried that the question he was about to ask would offend Mako. "Can I…call you _Dad_?"

Mako blinked, staring at Korra for a long time. Of everything Koda could have asked…that was the last thing he'd expected to hear. "Yes, Koda," he finally managed to say, cursing the way his voice cracked. "Of course you can. You are my son after all."

Koda's face split into a wide grin. Mako couldn't stop himself from smiling as he left the room after wishing his son a good night.

* * *

Hi again avid readers! So firstly I'd like to make you aware that this story is coming to an end (unfortunately) and due to this, i'm going to try to pace out the release of the last few chapters. I'll release this one this week and perhaps one every week onwards until the end of the story. As per usual please review (politely, though I do like to hear your opinions on things I don't appreciate the characters being bashed or any negativity). Enjoy!


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

* * *

Korra wasn't sure how long it was that she sat on the couch, her elbows resting on her knees, face buried in her hands before she felt another, larger, hand rest itself on her forehead. She jumped a bit, jerking up to look at Mako, who was standing over her. "I think your fever's starting to break," he commented after a moment, resting his free hand against his own forehead. "How do you feel?"

"I'm all right," she sighed, turning away from Mako's touch. Now seemed like as good a time as any to address the issues hanging in the air around them.

"Mako—"

"Korra—"

They cut themselves off as they spoke at the same time. Turquoise eyes met amber, hesitation apparent in both pairs. "You first," Mako finally said. He really wasn't sure what he was going to say to begin with. Korra sighed, scooting over a bit so Mako could sit next to her.

"We ugh…we need to talk about all of this, don't we? I mean…Koda, and everything." Mako couldn't help but wonder what "everything" was. "I know you said you want to help with Koda, and I'm sure you want a relationship with him, and I don't blame you and I most certainly can't stop you, you have every right to want to know him…and he wants to know you too, I can't keep the two of you apart. So I was thinking…school's going to be starting soon, and you work long hours during the week, but if it's okay with you, he could spend the weekends with you. I think he'd like that, getting out of town for a couple days, going somewhere new—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Mako held up his hands, effectively putting an end to Korra's rushed, uncertain words. "You really want to shuttle him back and forth?" Korra sighed. She'd never really thought it was a great idea in the first place.

"Well, if you have a better idea, I'd love to hear it."

Mako hesitated. There was always _Koda's_ idea of all of them living together. But there was absolutely no way _he_ was going to suggest that to Korra. He wanted _her_ to be the one to present the idea. If it ever even occurred to her.

"Maybe we can just…sleep on it," he finally suggested. "It's been a long day and you need to rest, you're still sick…"

Korra ran a hand through her hair, closing her eyes. Yeah. The idea of dragging this situation out sounded just _wonderful_. She couldn't argue though. Despite the fact that she'd slept most of the morning and late afternoon away, she was exhausted now, both physically and emotionally. She really didn't want to have to think about all of this _now_.

Mako frowned at the look upon Korra's face. She looked almost…_defeated_. It worried him. "Korra?" He murmured, reaching over to take her hand in his; he squeezed her fingers lightly, and she raised her turquoise eyes look at him. "Are you okay?"

She pulled in a deep breath, swallowing hard. She wasn't really sure how to answer his question. Her head felt like it was spinning. Mako made a face, moving so he was closer to Korra. He was surprised when she stiffened just a little. "What's wrong?" He demanded. He was starting to become more worried.

"Nothing, nothing," Korra assured him, lifting her head so they were facing each other. "I'm…just…"

_Woah_. When had he become so close? There was barely any space left between them, all she would have to do was lean in just a little…

Apparently Mako had the same idea. They both moved of their own accord, closing what little space was left between them, they're lips barely inches apart…

_Ring-Ring_… Moment. Broken. "_Flaming flameo_," Mako growled, jumping up and whirling around, grabbing the phone and yanking it up to his ear in one, furiously swift motion. "What do you want?" He snarled into the receiver.

"_Excuse me_?" Asami's furious voice shot back. "_Who do you think you are answering the phone like that, what are you even _doing_ over there? And why didn't Korra answer the phone, did something happen?"_

Mako muttered a string of obscenities under his breath as he held the phone out to Korra.

"It's your _bestie_," he informed her coolly. Korra gave him a slightly reprimanding look as he took the phone and held it to her ear.

"What is it, Asami?"

"_Just calling to check on you. I ended up getting out late from work and I knew I wasn't going to be getting out there to see you tonight. But asides from that; What has Mako's boxers in a knot?"_

Korra tried very hard not to smile at the insult. "It's a long story…"

* * *

Mako sighed as he wandered out of the living room, giving Korra privacy to speak with Asami. He made his way down the hall, stopping first to check on Koda. The boy was already sleeping soundly; his legs sprawled out over his bed, the covers kicked off. Mako smirked slightly as he walked over to the bed, picking up the covers from where they lay on the floor and tossing them over Koda again. '_They'll probably be thrown off again by the time morning comes…_' he thought with a smile as he backed out of the room again.

Somehow, Mako found himself in Korra's room. He hadn't really gotten a good look the last couple of times he'd been in there. Not that there was much to see. It was a simple room, white walls and white sheets with a blue blanket. The kind of room you'd expect Korra to sleep in.

The only thing of distinguishable decoration was the set of three framed photos that Korra, Mako assumed, had placed on the bedside table. Mako sat down on the edge of the bed to examine them more closely.

The first photograph Mako picked up was of the four of them, Team Avatar, taken not long after their return to Republic City after their efforts to return order to the Earth Kingdom. Mako smiled a bit. On the far right was Bolin, grinning at the camera, Pabu resting on his shoulders. To the left of Bolin was Asami Sato who, even to this day, Mako thought was strikingly beautiful. To Bolin's right was Korra, giving the camera a triumphant grin, the likes of which he hadn't seen in almost seven years and last but by no means least was Mako, smirking faintly at the camera. Mako smiled at the picture, still remembering how much trouble Bolin had gone through to convince them all to take it. He remembered he himself had been the only one unwillingly to be in it.

The second picture was of Korra and Koda. Mako couldn't tell where they were, though if he had to guess he'd say the living room of the apartment they were currently living in. The picture wasn't that old, probably only a couple of months at most. Koda was being held in Korra's arms, grinning widely, and even Korra had managed a smile. _She really does look beautiful when she smiles…_

The third picture surprised Mako quite a bit. It was one of him and Korra together, taken at the Glacier Spirits Festival all those years ago. They'd gone on all kinds of rides, played all kinds of games, and eaten all kinds of fried food on sticks that Mako swore he wasn't going to touch another morsel of food for an entire week. It was a day that was etched into his memory.

* * *

"Unalaq offered to train me. He says he can teach me about the spirits and my connection to them." Korra stated as she and Mako made their way down the strip of festival stores.

"Sounds good. What does Tenzin think?" Mako answered, not entirely sure of the best way to respond.

"Tenzin thinks I'm his prisoner or one of his kids. I'll never finish training with him in charge. I mean, you heard what Unalaq said; The South is spiritually unbalanced and it's the Avatar's job, namely _my_ job, to fix it, but my dad won't even let me _think_ about Unalaq teaching me. Well?" Korra asked, turning to look at him with a desperate look to her face.

"Well what?" Mako asked, a little taken aback.

"What do you think I should do?" Korra's voice now matched her look of desperation.

"I guess you should do what you think is right. I support whatever decision you make." Mako finally admitted, after a moment of thought.

"Oh thanks. That's a big help." Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

"I thought you wanted me to be supportive? Now you want me to tell you what I think? Make up your mind!"

"Just forget it." She sighed as she began to walk off down the strip of festival stores. It took a few moments for Mako to realise he should follow after her and try and salvage what little remained of the evening. He jogged up behind her, placing his hand on her shoulder and turning her around to face him.

"Look, Korra. Can we please just have _one_ night where you're not thinking about saving the world or going off to some far away place to do your Uncle's bidding and actually have a night where it's just about the _two of us_. Can we please just…_try_ to have a carefree time? Please?"

Korra shrugged and made a face, but didn't bother responding as they began walking again, taking up his hand in her own as they did. "Well aren't you two just the cutest couple," a voice cooed suddenly. Korra jumped slightly as she and Mako turned to look over their shoulders at an older, gray-haired lady approaching them. A camera was clutched tightly in her hands.

"Hello," Korra replied, a bit reluctantly. "Is there something we can do for you?"

The woman smiled faintly. "Well I _do_ think you're just adorable together. Here, get together, I'll take a picture of you both."

"Ugh…" Korra started to protest, only to have Mako cut her off.

"Don't bother arguing," he muttered, dragging her behind a wooden cutout of a Water Tribe couple. "She'll just keep pushing until we agree, might as well give her a few minutes of joy. And besides, I think it's a nice way to commemorate our first Glacier Spirits Festival together, don't you think?"

Korra laughed as she made her way to stand next to Mako behind the wooden cutout, taking up his hand in her own once again. They were both smiling softly when at the last second, Korra, broke out into a huge grin, ultimately giving the crazy old woman what she wanted. But as Mako looked at the photo now, Mako thought that the smile upon Korra's face was the most beautiful smile that he'd had ever seen.

* * *

"Mako?"

Mako's head snapped over to look at the adult incarnation of the grinning, exuberant girl in the picture before him. "Sorry," he said quickly, standing up. "I didn't mean to…um…sorry. I was just trying to give you some privacy with Asami. I'll just…um…yeah." He gestured to the pictures, in particular the one of the two of them. "I can't believe you still have that."

"You mean you don't?" Korra asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah…but I'm sentimental."

Korra smiled a bit, walking over to the table and picking up the photograph in question. "Well, about ninety-nine percent of my happiest memories involve you _somehow_, so it really isn't too odd for me to still have this, right?"

Mako chuckled. "Fair point." There was no need for him to admit that _all_ of his happiest memories involved her as well.

"Mako…" Korra sighed, rubbing her neck. "It's late and you probably have to work tomorrow. If you don't feel like going home you're welcome to stay here…I mean, you don't _have_ to of course, if you'd rather go—"

Mako couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Korra so uncertain and so uncomfortable with suggesting he spend the night. It was kind of cute, if not embarrassing for her.

"Maybe I _should_ just crash on your couch," he said, saving her the trouble of having to come up with more words to say.

"You can have the bed if you want," she mumbled. "I've fallen asleep on that couch plenty of times, I know how uncomfortable it is—"

"So what, _you're_ going to sleep there instead?" Korra just shrugged her shoulders. Mako scowled, hesitating before presenting his next idea. "You know…it's not like we've never shared a bed before."

"It's not an issue when you're a sexually active couple," Korra pointed out, correctly identifying the memory he was referring to.

"We shared a bed without having rabid sex every time we did, Korra," Mako said with a slight smirk. He was surprised when Korra laughed.

"You're so crude."

Mako grinned, as if that had been the highest kind of compliment. And to him, it had been. As Korra's laughter died off, he held out his hand, palm up, fingers outstretched. An offering. Korra smiled tiredly as she stepped forward, resting her palm on top of his.

* * *

"…I have a son."

Okay, so it probably wasn't the most _appropriate_ answer to Lin Beifong's question of, "are you feeling all right Chief?" And considering the look of utmost shock his words received, it certainly wasn't the answer anyone had been expecting. But as Mako had thought more and more about the events that had transpired over the last two days, not to mention the fact that Koda had happily chirped _"Bye Dad!"_ as Mako had left the apartment that morning, the shock had really begun to set in. He had a son. _He had a son._ Holy hell, he and Korra had a son!

"Um…sir?"

Mako snapped back to reality and raised his head to look into the green eyes of his subordinate. "Sorry, Beifong. Did you say something?"

Beifong seemed too baffled to answer. "Did you just say…you have a _son_?" Li finally voiced the question ringing in everyone's minds.

Beifong's mind seemed to be working overtime as she put two and two together. _Mako had a son_…_Korra had a son_…Lin's eyes lit up as understanding dawned on her. "_Avatar Korra_…?"

Li's jaw hit the floor as Mako nodded. Suddenly he _really_ needed to get out of the office. "I'll be back in a few," he muttered, standing up and crossing the office in a few long strides and yanking the door open, stepping out into the hall and letting it swing shut behind him. Li and Beifong exchanged bewildered glances.

"Chief Mako…and Avatar Korra…?"

Mako wasn't really sure where he was going until he ended up making his way to Asami's closest factory. Asami was busy working when he entered, of course. "Miss Sato." Mako greeted her dryly as he walked over to where she was standing. She tilted her head up to glare at him before slamming the bonnet shut on the Sato Mobile she'd been working on. "I'm sorry about the way I answered the phone last night, okay? It was just…bad timing."

"Was I _interrupting_ something?" Asami asked sarcastically.

"Not what you're thinking, no." Mako sighed. He didn't really know why he felt the need to apologise to Asami. He technically hadn't done anything wrong…but he needed Asami on his side so he could run this next idea by her and get a somewhat unbiased response. "Korra doesn't love me."

Asami looked surprised as she lifted her head to look at Mako again. She tossed her bag of tools over her shoulder. "Walk," she commanded, turning and starting to walk away. Mako knew better than to argue as he followed. "Now why do you think Korra doesn't love you?"

"Because she's had plenty of times to reciprocate." Mako launched into the story of the events that had taken place over the course of yesterday evening. Asami listened with some amount of interest as they walked into the factory office. She dropped the bag of tools on the floor near the door, closing said door behind her and walked over to the desk, leaning against it, crossing her feet at her ankles.

"Just because she hasn't _said_ it yet doesn't mean it isn't true," Asami said when Mako had finished telling her about the previous days happenings. "Did you ever think maybe she's afraid to come out and say it? I know it's not really like her to shy away from anything but a lot has happened in the last couple of days, you know."

Mako frowned, looking at the ground. "Maybe…I don't know. What if you're wrong though?"

Asami was surprised. "You're really worried about this, aren't you?" Mako didn't answer. "Wow…I never thought I'd see the day when Chief Mako was lovesick. It'd be cute, if I didn't think it was sad that you're so blind to the fact of _how much_ Korra loves you."

Mako really wished he could find it in himself to believe that. He reached into his coat pocket; pulling out the picture Asami had given him of Korra with Koda. Asami smiled when she saw it. "I can completely see you with a framed picture of the two of them on your desk, you know. Do us all a favour and make it happen, okay?"

Mako chuckled weakly. "I'll see what I can do."

* * *

"So, you're leaving?" Koda asked, frowning, as he tilted his head up to look at Kai, who smiled sadly as he patted the boy's messy head of hair.

"Yeah. All the Air benders are waiting for me. I have to go." Koda pouted. "But I'll tell you what," Kai quickly went on with a small laugh. "I'll come back and visit really soon, okay? I might even bring Jinora along too."

Koda's eyes lit up, and he nodded happily. "Kay!"

Kai chuckled as he straightened up to look at Bolin and Korra, who were both smiling softly. "Thank you so much for everything," he said, shaking first Bolin's hand, who, on contact pulled him into a big bear hug. After wrestling himself free of Bolin's clutches he took Korra's hand in his own and gave it a firm shake. Kai was surprised when she too, pulled him into a hug.

"Of course," Korra responded at once.

"Don't be a stranger!" Bolin shouted.

"Be safe," Korra added, leaving no room for an argument.

"Aw, you know me," Kai cracked dryly. "I love the quiet life."

Bolin and Korra both laughed. Koda made a face, clearly confused by the comment. Kai smiled as he bent down to pick up his backpack, giving the trio one last wave before starting towards the door. Before he even touched it though, it flew open. He wasn't completely surprised when Mako walked in.

"Oh — sorry Kai." Mako eyed the backpack on Kai's back. "Finally going home?"

"Yeah. The Air Nation just can't survive without me I'm afraid." He saluted Mako, surprised when the man returned the gesture.

"Try to stay out of trouble. And take care of yourself, Kai."

"Don't worry about me Chief. Catch ya later!"

Oh yeah, Kai reflected dryly as he made his way out onto the street. He was _definitely_ coming back. He wanted to see what happened with Mako and Korra.

Korra raised her eyes to look at Mako, who gave her a tentative smile. "Hi Dad!" Koda cheered, breaking the moment. Of course. Bolin raised an eyebrow at Korra, who shook her head. Mako chuckled as he patted Koda's head.

"Hey bud. You staying out of trouble?"

"Yup!" Koda nodded happily. Mako chuckled. He highly doubted that, not that it was his place to question it. Instead he turned his gaze to Korra.

"You got a minute?" He wanted to get her away from people. Away from Bolin and Koda and phones with less than amenable ex-girlfriends on the other line…

Korra looked at Bolin, who nodded at her, almost a little _too_ enthusiastically.

"Koda and I can take care of the store, right bud?"

"We sure can!" Koda nodded eagerly. Korra smiled faintly as she walked over to where Mako stood, following him out the door. Bolin and Koda exchanged conspiratorial grins. They both wanted that walk to end the same way, though for admittedly different reasons.

* * *

Korra's mind was racing. She hadn't thought any more about how they were supposed to work out the issue of Koda's custody. Or how she was supposed to approach the idea of telling him he was off the hook with any obligations he thought he had to her.

"You're out."

The words came out of nowhere. Mako stopped walking and looked down at Korra, bewildered. "…What?"

Korra sighed, tugging a strand of her hair and twirling it around her finger. "About…what you said yesterday…" Mako had said so much that it took him a minute to realise exactly what he was referring to. "If you want to…I mean, I know you want a relationship with Koda, but _us_…we don't need to…I'm not going to hold you to anything you said yesterday, in relation to us. I'm giving you an out. You're free."

She found herself unable to look at him as she continued to speak. Instead she dropped her eyes to stare at the floor, shifting her weight from foot to foot. She could feel Mako burning holes into her with his gaze. "You…don't believe I love you?" He asked finally, his voice strangled with disbelief.

"I believe you said something in the moment. Whatever feelings you have for me…no, I don't believe they're love. A strong friendship maybe, or—"

Korra was cut off mid sentence as Mako tucked his fingers under her chin, forcing her to look up at him. In the same movement he leaned in, pressing his lips against hers and effectively killing anything and everything she'd been about to say. Her turquoise eyes widened for a moment before slipping shut, her lips melding against his.

They didn't pull apart until breathing became absolutely necessary. Korra pulled in a deep breath, trying to ignore the fact that the scenery around her was spinning. "Um…" Was all she could manage to say. Mako, however, seemed to know _exactly_ what he wanted to say.

"I love you, Korra." His tone left no room for argument. "I have _always_ loved you and _will_ always love you. You are my entire world. I'm not saying this out of obligation or because I'm _confused_ about my feelings…I'm saying it because I'm in love with you. I love you Avatar Korra. No, just Korra. Always."

Korra still felt as if her head was spinning. She blinked a couple of times, pulling in a deep breath and just stared at him. Her mind was completely blank. Except for one thing she knew had to be said.

"I love you too."

Bolin clapped a hand over Koda's mouth to keep the boy from yelling out-loud as Korra and Mako leaned in to kiss one another again. Koda was practically over the moon; he jumped up and down in Bolin's grip, his yells muffled by the large hand covering his mouth, making them inaudible to Mako and Korra, who were clearly too wrapped up in each other to notice anything else going on around them.

_"__Well"_, Bolin reflected with a large grin, "_things can only get better from here on out."_


	15. Chapter 15

-A year has passed-

* * *

Idiot. I am an idiot.

These were the thoughts currently running through Bolin's mind. He was cursing the world for letting _this_ be the day — of all the days in the 365 days that made a year — that he, Kai and Jinora decided they were going to head into Republic City and drop into Police headquarters and visit their friends.

None of them were aware however of the fact that it was also the same day Tahno had decided to drop into Police Head Quarters.

Kai and Jinora exchanged tolerant smiles, then looked over at Bolin, who was sitting on the end of the couch, his elbow on the arm of said couch, his cheek resting in his hands, scowling. Like everyone else in the room, he was trying very hard not to listen to the scrawny man with his gelled comb-over standing in the middle of the room, recounting what sounded like the latest of his tales, Bolin wasn't _quite_ sure what he was talking about, honestly. Li and Beifong were half-heartedly attempting to work; their pens were moving, though Bolin doubted they were actually writing anything. It must have been hard to concentrate with _that_ whiny voice sounding throughout he office. Mako, who was sitting in a position similar to Bolin, though at his desk, was just staring at Tahno, not even bothering to feign interest.

Kai, who was leaning against the couch behind Bolin happened to look over his shoulder just in time to see two chocolate heads peek into the room.

"Avatar Korra!"

Korra cringed at being caught. She'd kind of been planning to just wait in the hall…

Too late.

Koda was already bounding into the office. He had a rather _morbid_ fascination with Tahno's wavy hair, it worried Korra and Mako sometimes…

"Hi Tahno," Koda chirped, clapping his hands behind his back and bouncing on the balls of his feet. Korra wasn't _nearly_ as happy as her son as she shuffled into the office, one hand resting against her forehead.

"_Is your hair naturally like that?"_

_Korra slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand, shaking her head. "I swear I taught him manners Tahno, I really did…"_

_"He seems like a fine boy, Uh-Vatar." Tahno waved Korra off with a chuckle. Koda grinned widely, clearly pleased with the comment._

_"Spend five minutes with him, you won't be saying that…"_

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Mako mumbled over and over as he went over to stand with Korra, wrapping an arm around her waist and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "You are my savior, I love you, thank you so much…"

"Don't thank me yet, we're still here," Korra murmured back. Mako chuckled weakly. "How long did he bore you this time?"

"Two hours. Two very_ long_ hours of listening to Tahno. I'm just about ready to ask Beifong to kill me."

"I hope she doesn't listen, I quite like having you around. I've gotten used to you."

"Oh good, I'm glad you're used to me. Because you know, if you weren't by now we might have a problem…"

By now Koda had lost interest in listening to Tahno and had moved over to the couch where his uncle, Kai and Jinora were sitting.

"_What's _wrong_ with my eyes_?" Koda demanded angrily as he glared at Tahno, who cringed. He could have sworn that comment had been quiet enough for only Bolin, Jinora and Kai to hear.

"Nothing's wrong with your eyes, pal, don't worry," Bolin said with a smile, patting the boy's head. "Tahno just doesn't know how to control his mouth. Kind of like you."

Koda giggled. Tahno scowled at the slight. "I'm a lot better now, I'll have you know."

"…and you know what, last night I had to be really good and pretend to be asleep because Mum and Dad were having their 'playtime'—"

Korra and Mako stiffened, and in the time it took to blink Mako had bolted across the room and clapped a hand over Koda's mouth, effectively silencing him. "Well then, we were just leaving, we're going out to lunch, come on Koda, let's go…"

And with that he dragged Koda out of the office, a hand still over the boy's mouth to prevent any more words from coming out. Korra was shaking her head, blushing lightly as she followed them. As soon as the door closed, everyone burst out laughing. They all had a special place in their hearts for the loose-mouthed little boy who was constantly getting his poor parents into trouble.

"I'm going to have to have a few words with Asami," Mako growled as he finally released Koda. The poor boy looked disheveled — and a bit confused by his father's admittedly strange actions.

"You can't blame her because he inherited Bolin's loud mouth."

"I can blame her for the things she teaches him though."

* * *

Lunch, of course, was a never-ending affair of Koda informing his father of everything that had happened between that moment and when the family had woken up that morning. Mako smiled through the entire thing, though he kept his ears peeled for anything he might not want an entire restaurant full of people to know about his and his wife's private lives.

"And then mum found out—"

"Koda!" Korra cut the boy off in a surprisingly harsh voice. Koda blinked a couple of times, having realised he'd been about to say something that was supposed to stay secret.

"Oh. Um…never-mind," he mumbled, turning his attention to the noodles in his bowl. Mako raised an eyebrow at Korra, who was now eating her own noodles with determined, deliberate slowness.

"Something you two want to share with me?" They shook their heads at the same time. Mako looked between them, smiling a bit at the similarities between the looks on their faces. Neither of them looked like they were going to crack. No problem. Koda couldn't keep a secret forever. "Come on bud, you know you want to share this big secret with your dad, you l_ove_ telling me secrets. Remember when you told me what mum was getting me for my birthday?"

"He did _what_?"

Koda pressed his lips tightly together, staring at his plate. "Come on Koda, please, you can't hide this from me forever can you?"

"Mako!" He wasn't surprised when Korra slapped his upper arm. "Koda, go and wash your face please, it's covered in seaweed."

Koda nodded silently, as if he didn't dare to open his mouth, and jumped up, running to the bathroom. As soon as he was gone, Korra turned to glare at Mako.

"Don't."

"What's the big secret?"

"You'll find out later."

"That's not fair!" Korra rolled her eyes.

"I thought our _son_ was the seven year old, not you."

Needless to say, Mako was _not_ happy when he returned to the office. His already bad mood was magnified when he saw that Tahno was _still_ there. He slumped across the room, dropping into his seat and returning to his original position as Tahno launched into the story his wife and son's impromptu visit had interrupted nearly an hour earlier. Mako sighed, his eyes shifting to the framed photo sitting on his desk. A picture of the two people he loved more than anything in the world. And he smiled despite himself.

It was quiet. Normally quietness wouldn't be a cause for alarm — unless you happened to be Chief Mako, who lived in an apartment with the Avatar, a loud-mouthed little boy and an over-excitable polar bear dog. If that was the case, then quiet usually sent you into a panic.

"Let me guess," Mako said as he walked into the kitchen and saw Korra standing at the stove, stirring a pot. "You finally snapped, killed Koda and Naga, and buried them in the backyard."

"Well if anyone could get away with it, it's probably me," Korra reflected idly. "Unfortunately no, they'll both be home tomorrow, they're spending the night with your brother."

"You sure you feel safe leaving Koda with my brother? Bo's not exactly the most responsible of people."

"Well if anything happens to Koda, Bolin's head will be on the chopping board." Korra smiled as Mako wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, pressing his chest against his back and leaning in, running his lips lightly along her neck.

"Mako…" She moaned, suppressing a shiver. "I'm trying to cook, don't…"

"I believe _you_ owe me a secret," Mako mumbled, brushing her chocolate hair out of the way to plant more kisses down jaw. A few more nibbles at her neck and she'd be putty in his hands.

"Later — Mako, the food—"

"Screw it," Mako said at once, reaching around Korra and turning off the stove before turning her around and pressing his lips against hers.

"Do you _want_ to eat?" Korra demanded, pulling away just enough to be able to speak.

"We have the house to ourselves and no worries that a certain little boy is going to walk into the office tomorrow and yell for everybody to hear about his mother and father's 'playtime.' Forget eating. Just tell me the secret and let's get on with the rest of the night."

"Well aren't you a demanding person," Korra commented dryly as she pulled away from him completely and turned back to the stove, switching it on again.

"What — no, come on Korra—"

"Dinner first. You need to eat, skinny boy."

"Who needs food when they have a beautiful wife and no son around to distract them?" Mako asked desperately. His face fell when he saw Korra smirk. He knew she was _enjoying_ doing this to him! "Oh you are going to_ pay_ for this later," he mumbled as he started into the living room.

"Like you have the kind of restraint necessary for holding out," Korra called after him. It was clear, from the tone of her voice that she was trying not to laugh. Mako chuckled lightly. Mostly because she was right; he didn't have _any _control when it came to her. He headed into their room to change into more comfortable clothes, stopping long enough to peek into Koda's room and silently gloat over the fact that the boy was spending the night with his Uncle, and probably 'Aunt', knowing Bolin and Asami's on-again off-again relationship, before going back into the kitchen.

"So…secret?"

Korra sighed as she turned off the stove and picked up the pan, dumping the vegetables and water into the strainer waiting for her at the sink. "I'm going to have to talk to Koda about his own lack of self-control. Him blurting things out left and right really isn't good for anyone involved."

"You _are_ going to tell me, right?" Mako asked, a bit concerned now. Korra rolled her eyes, sighing slightly.

"Not if you keep going on about it I won't."

Mako sighed as he gave in, and let them sit down to have a _quiet_ dinner — a rarity from himself and Korra. Not that Mako didn't_ miss_ Koda — he didn't particularly like the nights when his son stayed the night with his Uncle or one of the many other members of their "extended" family. And he knew Korra felt the same way. But every now and then someone felt the need to mind Koda, just to give Korra and himself a little time alone. They both appreciated it more than they would ever let on.

"Secret?" Mako said as soon as they had finished eating. Korra's response was to deadpan him before standing up, taking their bowls over to the sink and rinsing them. Mako decided to take things into his own hands. If she wasn't going to tell him the secret…

Mako stood up from were he had been sitting, crossing the kitchen in a few quick strides and reaching around Korra, turning the tap off. She rolled her eyes as he trapped her between the counter and his own body. "I have to do the dishes," she informed him dryly.

"They can wait. We have _one_ night to ourselves. Let's make the most of it, shall we?" And with that he proceeded to finish what he'd started when they'd been standing at the stove. It didn't take long for Korra to break down and turn around, pressing her lips roughly against his and looping her arms around his neck, giving her enough leverage to pull herself closer to him, as if that were possible. Mako snaked his own arms around her waist, holding her tightly against him, deepening their kiss, parting his lips just enough for his tongue to slip through.

He was left hanging when Korra pulled away from him. "Oh come on Kor…"

"We're not doing this in the kitchen," she informed him gently. "Our son eats in here, remember?"

"So? What he doesn't know won't hurt him." Korra shook her head, smiling a bit as she looked around the room they were standing in.

"This a pretty small apartment…isn't it?"

She wanted to discuss the _house-size? _Spirits was her timing terrible. "Yeah well there's only three of us if you leave out Naga, so it's not hurting anyone, is it?" Korra's response to that was to slap Mako's upper arm before she spoke.

"True, but it's not going to be just the three of us anymore."

"Well then we'll—" Mako cut himself off mid-sentence as he realized what Korra had just said. "Wait…what?" He forced his currently sex-dominated thoughts to focus on Korra, and found that she was smiling slyly at him. "You're…?" She nodded. Silence dominated the room for about a half a second.

_"Yes!"_

In the time it took to blink Mako had wrapped his arms around Korra and hugged her with such force that he actually lifted her off the ground. She laughed as he twirled her around in one quick circle before setting her down again and kissing her.

"I love you," he mumbled as he broke the kiss, resting his forehead against hers and grinning widely.

"Well I certainly hope so."

Mako laughed, pulling back so he could press his lips against her forehead instead. "Smartass."

"And proud of it."

They both laughed quietly, still wrapped in one another's arms with no sign that they would be separating any time soon. After a moment Mako pulled one arm back, letting his hand come to a rest on Korra's abdomen. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of his touch and wondering how many times she'd imagined him doing the exact same thing when she'd been pregnant with Koda.

If there was such a thing as heaven, this was certainly it, Mako decided. He was standing there with his pregnant wife, reveling in the feelings that washed over him. He had a beautiful wife, an energetic son, and another child on the way. There was no way it got any better than this.

"Spirits," Mako let out suddenly, much to Korra's surprise. She blinked, tilting her head up to look at him, confusion alight in her amber eyes.

"Problem?"

"Yes," Mako grumbled, feigning unhappiness. "Tenzin was right. There's no greater joy than having a family."

Korra laughed, trying not to let her relief show on her face. She would never admit it to Mako, but she'd been nervous about telling him she was pregnant. The biggest part of her had been sure he'd be thrilled; he was constantly griping about all the major milestones — first word, first steps, and all of that — that he'd missed with Koda. But there was always that tiny, insecure part of her that was sure all of this wasn't real, and that one day she'd wake up and find out this wonderful chapter of her life was just another wishful dream.

"Well, Tenzin would know better than anyone the highs and lows that come with raising a family," Korra admitted to her husband, pushing the insecurities back down. They had no place in this wonderful, happy moment. "I'm pretty sure we have a lot to celebrate tonight." Mako seemed to like that idea. He refocused his attention on the woman in his arms, leaning in again to kiss her. He was surprised when she stopped him. "Not in the kitchen."

"Okay okay." Mako chuckled. Well if she was going to be like _that_, he'd just have to take what he could get. He stooped down, scooping Korra into his arms.

"Mako…I can walk, you know."

"Let me have this," he said as he kissed her again. She laughed before returning the kiss, enjoying every blissful second of it before they pulled apart.

"I love you," she informed him as they started towards the bedroom.

"And I'll always love you," he said with a smirk, mimicking her answer from before. She slapped him lightly before giving in to the urge to rest her head on his shoulder. It was okay to act like a normal woman every now and then, after all. Especially when the result was getting to cuddle against her husband's broad, amazingly strong chest.

It was incredible, Korra thought as Mako flopped down on the bed, letting her rest on his chest as they picked up where they'd left off. It was absolutely incredible how _one_ man could make her feel this way. Like she was completely loved. And as always, the biggest part of her knew she was. There was always just that one part that worried. She knew those feelings would always be there; just like Mako would always be there right when she needed to squash said feelings and remind him that she was his and he was hers. It was fate. They were a family.

Forever.

* * *

And so with that Fate comes to an end. I realise that, asides from Korra and Mako (and of course Koda and baby number two), the other characters relationships weren't explored particularly much. But, the story was about Mako and Korra and not anyone else; therefore I feel that the other characters and their relationships should be left up to your own interpretation. Of course there are hints of Kainora and Bosami but nothing more than that. Over the course of writing the story I really came to love the character of Koda, feeling he is the best of both Korra and Mako. I realise that quite often readers do not like original characters so I'm glad to find that so many of you did come to love Koda as much as I do.

Worry not; just because Fate is finished does not mean that I will not continue to write more stories, though I must admit I am experiencing a little of what we call 'writers block'. Thank you all for taking the time to read 'Fate' and be sure to check back for more updates on my current story '360'.

Thank you!


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